ISLAMABAD: A day after the government allowed convicted
Indian spy Kulbhushan Jadhav to meet his wife and mother, India accused
Pakistan of violating the ground rules agreed for the meeting.
A
statement from the Indian Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) claimed
that Islamabad committed four violations of the agreed upon rules by:
prohibiting the family from conversing in their native Marathi tongue;
making the two women change their attire and remove religious symbols;
preventing the Indian deputy high commissioner from observing the
meeting; and, permitting media to “harass and hector” the two women.
The
MEA statement claimed that the meeting was held in an “intimidating”
atmosphere that lacked credibility. Pakistan has, meanwhile, denied the
allegations.
In a statement, the Foreign Office rejected
the Indian allegations as “baseless and twists” that came 24 hours after
the meeting.
“We do not wish to indulge in a meaningless
battle of words. Our openness and transparency belies these
allegations. If Indian concerns were serious, the guests or the Indian
[diplomat] should have raised them during the visit with the media,
which was readily available, but at a safe distance, as requested by
India,” the statement said.
FO says shoes of Indian spy’s wife were retained because they contained something ‘metallic’; New Delhi alleges four violations of ‘ground rules’
The FO statement recalled that Jadhav’s mother “publicly
thanked Pakistan for the humanitarian gesture” in front of the media,
adding: “Nothing more needs to be said”.
However, the
controversy over Chetankul Jadhav’s shoes, which were retained by
security officials prior to the meeting, took a new turn after the FO
confirmed that a “metallic substance” had been detected in them.
“There
was something in the shoe. It is being investigated. We gave her a pair
of replacement shoes. All her jewellery etc were returned after the
meeting,” FO spokesperson Dr Mohammad Faisal said.
Indian
officials, however, insisted that the shoes of Mrs Jadhav were retained
for “inexplicable reasons” and warned against “any mischievous intent
in this regard”.
In pictures taken when the two women
arrived at the FO on Monday, Mrs Jadhav could be seen wearing brown
shoes, but left in white slippers. Curiously, all photos taken after she
disembarked from the SUV that brought them to the venue showed her
looking down at her shoes.
The MEA statement came after
Jadhav’s mother and wife held a series of meetings with External Affairs
Minister Sushma Swaraj and other top officials, including Foreign
Secretary S. Jaishankar and Indian Deputy High Commissioner to Pakistan
J.P. Singh, who accompanied the two women from Islamabad.
It
said Jadhav’s wife was asked to remove her bindi and mangal sutr, while
his mother was not allowed to converse with him in their mother tongue.
Most
Indian media organisations underscored the fact that Avantisudhir and
Chetankul met Jadhav at the heavily-guarded FO building through a glass
screen, but didn’t add that this was standard practice, observed even
for visitors meeting prisoners in Indian jails.
“We note
with regret that the Pakistani side conducted the meeting in a manner
which violated the letter and spirit of our understandings,” Indian
Express quoted MEA Spokesperson Raveesh Kumar as saying.
In
its statement, the MEA said that despite a clear agreement that the
media would not be allowed access to the family, “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”.
“From the feedback we have received of the
meeting, it appears 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. His appearance also raises questions of his
health and well-being,” the statement said.
“‘Though the
family members handled the situation with great courage and fortitude,
we regret that contrary to assurances, the overall atmosphere of the
meeting was intimidating insofar as family members were concerned,”’ it
noted.