Pakistan allows Indian 'spy' Jadhav's family to meet

The Pakistan Foreign Ministry says it has given permission to the wife and mother of an Indian naval officer facing the death penalty for espionage in Pakistan to visit the man in Islamabad.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Faisal on December 24 said in a Twitter statement that the Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi had issued visas to the two women to visit with Kulbhushan Jadhav on December 25.

Faisal said the two women will fly to Islamabad to meet with Jadhav, who was arrested in March 2016 by Pakistani officials after he entered the country from neighboring Iran.

The prisoner will be brought to the ministry for the meeting, the spokesman said. He added that India had requested that Pakistan to prevent journalists from speaking with the family members for security reasons.

The Associated Press quoted a security official involved with arranging the meeting as saying it will be conducted in the presence of three Indian diplomats.

"The mother and wife of Jadhav will be able to see and talk to him, but there will be a partition between them for security reasons," the official said.

Jadhav has filed a mercy petition with Islamabad's chief of army staff on "compassionate grounds," the Pakistani military said in June.

The military stated that Jadhav "has admitted his involvement in espionage, terrorist, and subversive activities in Pakistan and expressed remorse at the resultant loss of any precious lives and extensive damage to property due to his actions."

The AP, which said it has seen the mercy petition, reported Jadhav as writing that "I feel very shamed and I genuinely seek pardon of the acts and sins and crimes I have committed here against the nation and the people of Pakistan."

Pakistan alleges that Jadhav was working for India's Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), the country's intelligence agency.

New Delhi denies Jadhav was a spy and claims he was kidnapped from Iran.

No consular access to Jadhav

Pakistan has issued visas to Jadhav's wife and mother on "humanitarian grounds", and has consistently denied consular access to him, as the Vienna Convention does not apply to those involved in espionage, FO Spokesperson Dr Faisal told DawnNews.

"The presence of JP Singh at today's meeting should not be considered as consular access," Dr Faisal said.

Indian media, however, reported that the meeting between Jadhav and his family members constitutes as "consular access" after Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif on a Geo News talk show had said that the meeting is a "concession".

Times of India cited Asif as saying that the reason the meeting is taking place is because Pakistan didn't want India to create the impression that Jadhav was denied access to his family, especially since the spy's case is currently being heard at the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

ToI quoted Asif as saying: "We didn't want any weakness in our case in the ICJ over the meeting... We have allowed access to Jadhav's family purely on a humanitarian basis. However, if we were in the same place, India wouldn't have been so kind to us."

Earlier today officials said all arrangements were in place for the meeting between Jadhav and his wife and mother, and sharpshooters had been deployed at the sprawling FO building ahead of the meeting.

Kulbhushan Jadhav, a former Indian Navy officer, was arrested in Pakistan on espionage charges.

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.