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Pakistan lets Kulbhushan Jadhav’s wife meet him. Why India needs to be careful

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11 November 2017

Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said Pakistan’s decision to allow Kulbhushan Jadhav’s wife to meet him would be a morale booster for the former Indian Navy officer who has been in Pakistani custody on espionage charges since March 2016.

“We are trying out best to get him released and bring him back to India and so in between if his wife meets Jadhav – who is currently in Pakistan’s custody – his morale will surely get a boost,” said Sitharaman while interacting with media persons before beginning a door-to-door election campaign in Khokhra locality of Ahmedabad on Saturday. Sitharaman said there were certain procedures which need to be completed before bringing Jadhav back.

On Friday, Pakistan said it would arrange a meeting between Jadhav and his wife “on humanitarian grounds”. On April 25, two weeks after Jadhav was sentenced to death by a Pakistani military court, India had sought visas for Jadhav’s parents, Sudhir and Avantika Jadhav, to visit Pakistan.

The Ministry of External Affairs has not yet sought a visa for Jadhav’s wife, whose identity has not been revealed. But sources described Pakistan’s offer as an attempt to counter India’s argument at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague that Jadhav was not granted consular access in violation of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations. On May 18, a 10-member ICJ bench had restrained Pakistan from executing Jadhav till it adjudicated on the case.(Agencies)

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