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November 13, 2017

Allowing wife to meet Kulbhushan: Pakistan expects India’s formal response in two-three days

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan expects a formal reaction in two to three days from New Delhi regarding its decision to allow an Indian RAW agent, Commander Kulbhushan Jadhav, to meet his wife, following remark by the Indian Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman who called it a “good humanitarian gesture”, with Jadhav’s father also welcoming Pakistan’s decision.

It is not clear as to what prompted the government to announce on Friday that it has been decided that Commander Jadhav is being allowed a meeting with his wife, when earlier requests had all been ignored.

On Sunday, the spokesman at the Foreign Office qualified Friday’s statement by tweeting, “Offer for Commander Jadhav’s wife to meet her husband is purely humanitarian & based on Islamic traditions & jurisprudence.”

The unexpected but welcome decision made by General Headquarters where an appeal against Jadhav’s death sentence is presently lying, was later announced by the Foreign Office on Friday.

On 10 April, 2017, Jadhav was sentenced to death by a Field General Court Martial (FGCM). This led to India moving the International Court of Justice which on May 18, 2017, stayed the hanging.

Even if the chief of army staff rejects the plea for life by Jadhav, the Indian spook can still under the law appeal to the President of Pakistan.

There are countless examples in Islamic history of Muslims and non-Muslims prisoners of war being allowed to meet their wives with one case in the time of Imam Ali (RA) when he allowed the wife of a prisoner to visit and stay with her husband, with another instance where the prisoner’s family was allowed to visit him at any time they wished.

But it is not known that why after more than a year, it is now that, humanitarian grounds, Islamic traditions and jurisprudence are being used in the case of Jadhav when all the former requests by his family were rejected.

Initially, New Delhi had requested for a visa for the mother of Jadhav on humanitarian grounds and the Indian High Commission had requested consular access but were turned down.

"It is a good humanitarian gesture. India is making all efforts to get Kulbhushan Jadhav released from Pakistani prison. India has also approached the International Court of Justice,” Nirmala Sitharaman said at a press conference in Ahmedabad.

The Indian media, meanwhile, quoted Sudhir Jadhav, father of Commander Jadhav as saying, “We can't express our feelings in words. It's a positive thing for us that the Pakistan government has decided to allow my daughter-in-law to meet her husband. But it doesn’t mean we are happy. Until he returns to India, we will be praying hard for his safety."

Courtesy www.thenews.com.pk


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