Indian experts blast glass barrier in Jadhav’s meet with family

Hours after Kulbhushan Jadhav's mother and wife met him in Islamabad with a glass barrier in between, defence experts criticised the method and termed it as inhuman.

Speaking to ANI, Major General (retired) G D Bakshi said, "Today the spokesperson of Pakistan's foreign ministry was acting like he is the reincarnation of Mother Teresa. Pakistan gave proof of their inhuman nature. A mother who has not seen her son for 22 months went to meet him with a lot of expectations, but she was only allowed to see him through a glass."

Gen Bakshi further claimed that Pakistan abducted Jadhav from Chabahar airport and tortured him.

"Pakistan abducted Kulbhushan from Chabahar and took him to Balochistan and made him confess. On the basis of such confessions, Jadhav was sentenced to death by a Field General Court Martial (FGCM) in Pakistan. There are no evidences against him," he added.

Lieutenant General (retd) Raj Kadyan also said that the meeting that took place on Monday cannot be called a family meeting.

"There were hopes that the family will be given some kind of privacy but they meet Jadhav through a glass. So what had happened today cannot be called a family meeting," he told ANI.

"The truth is Pakistan had to present the case in ICJ that is scheduled in January, so by doing this, they wanted to create an image in the world that they very sincere," he added.

Jadhav's friends also criticised the way the meeting took place, with a glass barrier in between, and requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Minister of External Affairs Sushma Swaraj to intervene in the matter.

Subroto Mukherjee, one of his friends, said, "The whole nation was waiting for last 22 monthsfor a glimpse of Kulbhushan. But the footage of the meeting is disheartening. It took place for around 40 minutes, that too they were separated by a glass barrier and what they spoke was also recorded. This is a shameful act by the Pakistan government.

"This step is taken up to show International Court of Justice (ICJ) that they have arranged a meeting with Jadhav's family on humanitarian grounds just to make their case stronger," added Subroto.

He also alleged that Kulbhushan has been tortured in the Pakistan jail and expressed doubt on his physical condition.

Tulsi Das Pawar, another friend of Jadhav, said that Pakistan did not do any favour by conducting such a meeting.

"We don't consider it to be a meeting. Jadhav's mother and wife met him after 22 months and by extending their meeting time from 15 to 30 minutes, they did not do any favour," he said.

Pawar further requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi and minister of external affairs Sushma Swaraj to bring back Jadhav back to the country.

The Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi issued visas to Jadhav's mother and wife on 20 December.

Islamabad has repeatedly rejected New Delhi's plea for consular access to Jadhav at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), alleging he was not an ordinary person and had entered the country with intent of spying and carrying out sabotage activities.

Dismissing India's stance on Jadhav, Pakistan submitted its reply to the ICJ in the case on 13 December. The reply claimed that Jadhav's case did not fall under the purview of the Vienna Convention.

Pakistan's reply came after India submitted a written response to registrar Philippe Couvreur of the ICJ in the case in September this year.

Jadhav was arrested in March 2016 in Balochistan over charges of involvement in 'espionage and subversive activities for India's intelligence agency - the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW)'.

India, however, maintains that Jadhav was kidnapped from Iran where he had business interests after retiring from the Indian Navy.

Jadhav was sentenced to death by a Field General Court Martial (FGCM) in Pakistan on 10 April. The ICJ stayed the hanging on 18 May after India approached it against the death sentence.