- FO says Jhadav’s wife, mother to visit the spy on Monday
Foreign Minister (FM) Khawaja Asif has said Pakistan could allow India consular access to convicted spy Kulbhushan Jhadav.
However, he added that India would not have done the same if Pakistan was in the same position, reported a private news channel.
In an interview, the minister said Jhadav’s case was being heard by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and Pakistan did not want India to create an impression that he was being denied access to his family.
“We can’t make a decision in Jhadav’s case on mercy alone. We will take our national interests and security into consideration when reviewing his appeal for clemency,” he added.
“We have allowed access to Jhadav’s family purely on a humanitarian basis. However, if we were in the same place, India wouldn’t have been so kind to us.”
Foreign Office spokesman Mohammad Faisal tweeted, “India informs that the mother and wife of Kulbhushan Jhadav’s will arrive by commercial flight on December 25 and leave the same day. Indian DHC in Islamabad will be the accompanying diplomat.”
Commander Kulbhushan Jhadav, alias Hussain Mubarak Patel, a serving commander of the Indian navy, who was working with India’s premier intelligence agency, Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), was apprehended by law-enforcement agencies on March 3, 2016, after he illegally crossed over into Pakistan.
He confessed before a magistrate and the court that he was tasked by RAW to plan, coordinate and organise espionage, terrorist and sabotage activities aimed at destabilising and waging war against Pakistan.
Jhadav was sentenced to death earlier this year. However, the International Court of Justice ordered a stay in his execution.
New Delhi has repeatedly sought access to the convicted spy but Islamabad denied the permission on the ground that consular access in cases related to spies was not applicable.
