Considering visa application of Jadhav's mother: Pak FO

Islamabad : Pakistan said today that it was considering a visa application of the mother of Kulbhushan Jadhav for a visit to meet her son who was sentenced to death by a military court. India had requested Pakistan to allow Avantika Jadhav to meet her son.

“Pakistan is considering the Indian request for the grant of visa to the mother of Kulbushan Yadav,” Pakistan Foreign Office Spokesperson Nafees Zakaria was quoted as saying by state-run Radio Pakistan.

Zakaria’s remarks came two days after External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj in New Delhi said that she had written a “personal letter” to Adviser to the Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz asking for approval of Avantika’s visa application so that she may travel to Pakistan.

She also said that Aziz did not even respond to her letter. “I wrote a personal letter to Mr Sartaj Aziz for the grant of her visa to Pakistan. However, Mr Aziz has not shown the courtesy even to acknowledge my letter,” she had tweeted. However, Zakaria said that asking for recommendations from Aziz to grant visas was against “diplomatic norms”, Dawn newspaper reported.

Zakaria also accused India of imposing “conditions” for the approval of medical visas of Pakistani patients seeking medical treatment in the country. Jadhav, 46, was sentenced to death by a Pakistani military tribunal in April on charges of espionage and terrorism. Pakistan claims its security forces arrested him from its restive Balochistan province on March 3 last year after he reportedly entered from Iran.

However, India maintains that he was kidnapped from Iran where he had business interests after retiring from the Navy. Pakistan has dismissed India’s consular access request to Jadhav more than 15 times. India has accused Pakistan of repeatedly violating the Vienna Convention by doing so.

India had approached the International Court of Justice in May seeking provisional stay to execution of Jadhav which was granted.