New Delhi: Pakistan has granted visa to Indian death row convict in Pakistan Kulbhushan Jadhav’s wife and his mother, Pakistan’s foreign office spokesperson confirmed on Wednesday. The two will meet Jadhav — a former naval officer sentenced to death for espionage by a Pakistan military court — on December 25, Pakistan’s foreign office spokesperson Mohammad Faisal said in a tweet on Monday.
On Thursday, Pakistan directed its high commission in New Delhi to issue visas to Jadhav’s wife and mother. An official of the high commission in Delhi will also accompany the two women.
Pakistan had granted permission to both women in November after months of negotiating a meeting by the Indian government. A Pakistan military court sentenced Jadhav to death for espionage in April — a decision that triggered a diplomatic row and strained already fragile ties between the two countries. Pakistan claims its security forces arrested Jadhav alias Hussein Mubarak Patel from its restive Balochistan province on March 3 last year after he reportedly entered from Iran.
India, however, maintains that Jadhav was kidnapped from Iran where he had business interests after retiring from the Indian Navy, and appealed the verdict at the International Court of Justice in May. ICJ halted the execution and asked Pakistan to allow India consular access to the prisoner.