Jadhav’s meeting with family breach of understanding by Pakistan, claims India

• MEA says Indian spy’s family harassed by Pakistan; met in “atmosphere of coercion”
• India to continue to seek consular access to Jadhav

NEW DELHI: India on Tuesday criticised the meeting between Indian spy Kulbhushan Jadhav and his family members and termed it as a breach of understanding by Pakistan.

“We note with regret that the Pakistani side conducted the meeting in a manner which violated the letter and spirit of our understandings,” India complained in a statement hours after Jadhav’s wife and mother met officials at the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) in New Delhi, where they were likely debriefed.

The two women named Avanti and Chetankul Jadhav also held a three-hour-long meeting with Indian Minister for External Affairs Sushma Swaraj.

Arranged as a goodwill gesture on Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah’s birthday, the meeting had been allowed by Pakistan to India 21 months after Jadhav’s arrest purely on “humanitarian grounds”.

During Monday’s meeting at Foreign Office (FO) in Islamabad, Jadhav had spoken to his wife and mother via an intercom from across a glass screen. FO officials and Indian Deputy High Commissioner JP Singh had monitored the encounter through another glass screen.

The women had made a stop at the Indian High Commission upon their arrival in Islamabad prior to the meeting with the Indian spy.

However, India complained on Tuesday that its envoy “was initially separated from family members who were taken to the meeting without informing him.”

“The meeting was started without his [Singh’s] presence and he could join only after pressing the matter with concerned officials. Even then, he was kept behind an additional partition that did not allow him access to the meeting as agreed,” the statement said.

The statement also termed the overall atmosphere of the meeting as “intimidating insofar as family members were concerned.” Despite a clear agreement that the media would not be allowed close access to Avanti and Chetankul, the Pakistani press was allowed on multiple occasions to approach family members closely, harass and hector them and hurl false and motivated accusations about Jadhav, the MEA alleged.

Furthermore, the “cultural and religious sensibilities of family members were disregarded under the pretext of security precautions, which included removal of mangal sutra, bangles and bindi, as well as a change in attire that was not warranted by security,” India alleged.

Jadhav’s wife’s shoes were also removed “for some inexplicable reason, despite her repeated requests… not returned to her after the meeting,” the MEA claimed, adding: “We would caution against any mischievous intent in this regard.”

Moreover, India also complained that Jadhav’s mother was prevented from speaking to him in their mother tongue. “She was repeatedly interrupted while doing so and eventually prevented from proceeding further in this regard,” said the statement.

The MEA also claimed that from the feedback they received of the meeting, it appeared that Jadhav was under considerable stress and speaking in an atmosphere of coercion. “Most of his remarks were clearly tutored and designed to perpetuate the false narrative of his alleged activities in Pakistan,” the statement read, adding that Jadhav’s appearance also raised questions of his health and wellbeing.

“The manner in which the meeting was conducted and its aftermath was clearly an attempt to bolster a false and unsubstantiated narrative of Jadhav’s alleged activities,” the MEA said. “You would all agree that this exercise lacked any credibility,” it added.

Pakistan’s Foreign Office on Monday, in a press briefing after the meeting, had played a pre-recorded video message from Jadhav thanking the Pakistani government for permitting the meeting. It also included a confession from him for his involvement in espionage. The FO also issued medical reports that showed Jadhav is in good health and asserted that it was not the Indian spy’s last meeting with his family.

Meanwhile, Indian media has reported that India will reportedly continue to seek consular access to Jadhav, notwithstanding his meeting with his wife and mother on Monday.

Reports also say that India’s position had been clear all along that Jadhav was delivered a death sentence without being accorded basic legal rights under international law and that Pakistan’s position in the case was allegedly farcical. India had described the death sentence to Jadhav as premeditated murder.

Indian officials pointed out that even the International Court of Justice (ICJ) while staying Jadhav’s death sentence, had said that India should have been granted consular access to Jadhav in line with the Vienna Convention.

He was captured by security forces on March 3, 2016, in Balochistan and sentenced to death by a military tribunal earlier this year for his involvement in terrorism and espionage. His appeals against the conviction have been rejected by the military appellate court and his mercy petition has been lying with Army Chief Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa.

India has challenged Pakistan’s refusal to grant consular access to the spy in the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

The ICJ is hearing the case and has restrained the Pakistan government from executing Jadhav until it decides the case.