The mother and wife of Indian death row prisoner Kulbhushan Jadhav on Tuesday met External affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj at…
The mother and wife of Kulbhushan Jadhav. (Photo: AFP/File)
The mother and wife of Indian death row prisoner Kulbhushan Jadhav on Tuesday met External affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj at her residence, officials said.
Accoridng to reports, Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar and MEA spokesperson Raveesh Kumar were present in the meeting.
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The meeting comes a day after Jadhav’s mother and wife met Jadhav for about 40 minutes – through a glass panel – at the Foreign Office in Islamabad, Pakistan but no private discussions were allowed.
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Described as a “grand gesture” by the Pakistan government on the birth anniversary of Muhammad Ali Jinnah, Jadhav, who Islamabad claims is an Indian spy, came face to face with his 70-year-old mother Avanti and wife Chetankul after a gap of 22 months.
Separated by a glass partition in the heavily-guarded building, they spoke through an intercom watched by the Indian Deputy High Commissioner JP Singh who escorted them to the meeting.
Jadhav’s family was later taken to the Indian High Commission before their return to India via Oman. His mother thanked the Pakistan Foreign Office for allowing the meeting.
After the meeting, the Foreign Office spokesperson called Jadhav “the face of Indian terror” and said it would decide on consular access to him at an appropriate time. It added that the meeting between Jadhav and his family was not the last.
Jadhav, 47, was sentenced to death by a Pakistani military court on charges of espionage and terrorism in April, following which India moved the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in May.
India has said that Jadhav is innocent and has maintained that he was kidnapped from Iran where he had gone for handling his businesses after superannuation from the Indian Navy.
Despite the death verdict, Pakistan last week reiterated that he was not under threat of an immediate execution as his mercy petitions were still pending.
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