Indian Deputy High Commissioner stands outside as Jadhavs meet; no consular access given: Islamabad
A glass screen separating them, Kulbhushan Jadhav interacts with his mother and wife in Islamabad. PTI
Smita Sharma
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, December 25
Indian national Kulbhushan Jadhav’s mother Avantika and wife Chetna today met him in Islamabad for the first time since he was arrested by Pakistan in March 2016. Tried by a military court on charges of espionage and terrorism, he has been sentenced to death. The meeting was carefully choreographed. Avantika and Chetna reached Islamabad this afternoon. Accompanied by Indian Deputy High Commissioner JP Singh, they met Jadhav at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs building amid high security. The meeting lasted nearly 40 minutes. (Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd)From their arrival till their departure, mediapersons closely followed each step with a wall-to-wall coverage of the meeting, which the Pakistan Government claimed was testimony to its “humanitarian” face.“This is a very important day for Pakistan, being the birth anniversary of our founder Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah. It was in this light that this day was chosen for the humanitarian meeting of Jadhav with his wife and mother,” said Mohammad Faisal, Pakistan Foreign Ministry spokesperson.Images released by Pakistani officials showed Jadhav speaking with his wife and mother through the intercom and a glass interface as JP Singh stood outside. The Pakistan Foreign Office confirmed there was no consular access since the Indian diplomat was kept at a distance, observing the visuals. “This meeting was not consular access as we had told India its diplomat would ‘see’ the meeting but would not be allowed to speak or participate,” the spokesperson responded to queries after Foreign Minister Khwaja Asif claimed otherwise in an interview. The Pakistan Foreign Office reiterated the charges against him, calling him the face of Indian terrorism. “His passport bears a Muslim name, Hussein Mubarak Patel, which clearly is not Commander Jadhav. India has been unable and unwilling to provide an explanation about how and why an authentic Indian passport was used on a false ID, not once but at least 17 times, as Commander Jadhav travelled in and out of India. Indian silence is telling,” Faisal remarked.Sources said today’s meeting will have no bearing on the case being heard by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) for consular access to Jadhav. The court had in May ordered an interim stay on Jadhav’s execution pending completion of trial. News channel CNN-News18 quoted Harish Salve, who argued Jadhav’s case in the ICJ, calling the meeting a “farce”. The Pakistan Foreign Office, meanwhile, said it was not the trio’s “last meeting”.
In new video, Jadhav hails Pak for meeting
Kulbhushan Jadhav. File photo
Islamabad, December 25
Pakistan today issued a new video of Indian prisoner on death row Kulbhushan Jadhav in which he is purportedly seen thanking the Pakistan government for arranging a meeting with his wife and mother.The video message played by the Pakistan Foreign Office during a press conference after Jadhav’s meeting with his family was recorded before their meeting, officials said. The meeting came after the International Court of Justice had asked Pakistan, in May, to stay his execution.(Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd)Dalbir Kaur, the sister of Sarabjit Singh, who died in a Lahore jail in 2013, said Pakistan played a “cruel joke” by not allowing Jadhav to meet his wife and mother freely and dubbed the entire exercise a “drama”.Kaur found no “humanism” in the meeting. “When it was held under such tight security and close relatives are separated by a glass screen, it has little meaning,” she said. Having lost her brother four years back in Pakistan, Kaur said she could fully understand what Jadhav’s family must be going through at this hour.BJP leader Subramanian Swamy, meanwhile, said Jadhav and his family should have been allowed to meet in private. “They should have been allowed to meet in private. Instead, they were called to the Foreign Ministry’s office and made to meet on camera… What kind of a meeting can this be? She must be wanting to talk to her husband to find out how he had been all this while? How will a couple feel when somebody is watching them talk to each other,” asked Swamy. Congress leader Manish Tewari, on the other hand, said Prime Minister Narendra Modi should bring back Jadhav and asked whether his government had the determination to do so. “narendramodi Mr. Prime Minister you need to bring this Gentleman back home. Does your government have the determination to do what it takes and walk the talk?????? (sic),” Tewari tweeted along with a picture of Jadhav. — Agencies