Islamabad, November 10 (Express Tribune): Pakistan has allowed convicted Indian spy Kulbhushan Jadhav to meet his wife, months after a request was made by India’s Ministry of External Affairs.
“The Government of Pakistan has decided to arrange a meeting of Commander Kulbhushan Jhadav with his wife, in Pakistan, purely on humanitarian grounds,” Foreign Office said in a statement on Friday.
“A Note Verbale to this effect has been sent to the Indian High Commission in Islamabad, today.”
It is not clear what prompted Islamabad to allow Jhadav’s wife to meet him in Pakistan. There were rumors that the two countries discussed the issue in a recent meeting between Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Sawraj and the newly appointed Pakistani High Commissioner to New Delhi Sohail Mahmood.
Commander Kulbushan Jhadav alias, Hussain Mubarak Patel, a serving Commander of the Indian Navy, who was working with India’s premier intelligence agency, Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), was apprehended by law enforcement agencies on March 3, 2016 after he illegally crossed over into Pakistan, Express Tribune said.
He confessed before a magistrate and the court that he was tasked by RAW to plan, coordinate and organize espionage, terrorist and sabotage activities aimed at destabilising and waging war against Pakistan.
Jhadav was sentenced to death earlier this year; however, the International Court of Justice ordered a stay in his execution.
New Delhi has repeatedly sought access to the convicted spy but Islamabad denied permission on the ground that consular access in cases related to spies is not given.
(The featured image at the top is that of Commander Kulbhshan Jadhav)