Sushma Swaraj Hits Out At Sartaj Aziz Over Pak Visa For Kulbhushan Jadhav’s Mother
NEW DELHI
In tweets this morning, Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj tore into her Pakistani counterpart Sartaj Aziz for “not showing the courtesy to acknowledge” her letter on a visa for the mother of Kulbhushan Jadhav, the Indian sentenced to death in Pakistan.
However, any Pakistani national asking for a medical visa would be granted one immediately if Mr Aziz recommended it, she stressed.
Ms Swaraj tweeted that she had written a “personal letter” to Mr Aziz on the request of Avantika Jadhav to meet her son.
Mr Jadhav, a former navy man arrested by Pakistan last year on charges of spying, was sentenced to death by a military court earlier this year. Multiple requests from New Delhi for consular access have been denied. India has moved the International Court of Justice, which on May 18 restrained Pakistan from executing the death sentence.
The minister’s tweets were apparently linked to reports that a Pakistani cancer patient had been denied a medical visa for her treatment in India and that her family had made an appeal to both countries.
25-year-old Faiza Tanveer, who has an aggressive tumour in her mouth, has reportedly claimed that she had applied for a medical visa to India but her request was rejected. According to her family, the reason given was “deteriorating ties”.
The Foreign Minister tweeted: “All that we require is his recommendation for the grant of medical visa to Pakistan nationals. I see no reason why should he hesitate to give his recommendation for nationals of his own country.”(Agencies)
