Pak to arrange meet between Kulbhushan Jadhav and wife

Pakistan on Friday offered to arrange a meeting between Kubhushan Jadhav, an Indian national sentenced to death by a military court for alleged involvement in espionage, and his wife on humanitarian grounds.

The Foreign Office said in a brief statement that a note verbale with the formal offer of a meeting had been sent to the Indian high commission in Islamabad. The meeting would be arranged “in Pakistan, purely on humanitarian grounds”, the statement said without giving further details.

There was no immediate response from the external affairs ministry.

Officials in Islamabad privately said the meeting could take place next month. The Pakistani reported that it was not clear what had prompted Islamabad to make the offer.

The Pakistan government has so far not responded to a request made in April by Jadhav’s mother, Avantika Jadhav, to meet her son. There has also been no response to her petition to the Pakistan government to grant clemency to her son.

The Foreign Office statement referred to Jadhav as a serving naval commander who used the alias ‘Hussain Mubarak Patel’ and worked with India RAW spy agency. It said he was apprehended by law enforcement agencies on March 3 after he “illegally crossed over into Pakistan”.

The statement further claimed Jadhav had “confessed before a Magistrate and the Court that he was tasked by RAW to plan, coordinate and organise espionage, terrorist and sabotage activities”.

India has denied that Jadhav is a serving navy personnel and also rejected Pakistan’s claim that he was working for RAW and involved in spying. New Delhi said Jadhav was kidnapped from the Iranian port of Chabahar. It has also said that if Islamabad goes ahead with Jadhav’s execution, it will be regarded as a “case of premeditated murder”.

Jadhav’s execution was stayed after India took the matter to the International Court of Justice, which said he should not be executed till it gives a final ruling in the case.

The Pakistan Army said last month it is close to a decision on the mercy petition submitted by Jadhav. The army chief had earlier confirmed Jadhav’s death sentence after a court martial found him “guilty of all charges”.