Today, as Kulbhushan Jadhav’s mother left a 40-minute long meeting with her son. Kulbhusan’s mother was called “qatil ki maa” (means- murderer’s mother) outside the Foreign Office of Pakistan in Islamabad.
Local journalists of Pakistan really insulted Kulbhushan Jadhav’s mother after she met her son yesterday. After the press conference today, an Indian Congress leader asked PM Modi to “take a strong stand.”
The External Affairs Ministry said, “The manner in which Pakistan conducted Kulbhushan’s meeting with his mother and wife, has violated the “‘letter and spirit of our understandings’”.
Kulbhusan Jadhav, 47, yesterday met his wife Mrs. Chetankul Jadav and mother Avanti for around forty minutes across a glass screen. He was arrested last year, and sentenced to death in April 2016 on charges of spying after what India called a “kangaroo court”.
What’s more, his wife Avanti and mother Chetankul were forced to wait in the car, so that journalists could heckle them. The Ministry of External Affairs of India has leveled the same charge against Pakistan.
But Jadhavs’ ordeal began well before that when both of them were taken into a shipping to meet Kulbhushan. Ultimately he couldn’t hug his wife, or receive the gift his mother had brought with her. A sound-proof glass separated them. There’s more. Every time Mrs. Avanti began speaking to Kulbhushan in Marathi language, a woman officer turned off the intercom. India’s foreign ministry, too, says conversation in the Marathi language wasn’t allowed. Avanti and Chetankul were asked not to eat anything.
After photos of the meeting were released yesterday, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor lamented the “very disappointingly un-humanitarian spirit” in which it was conducted. One image clearly showed injuries on Jadhav’s head and ear which were “signs of torture.”
Pakistan always alleges that Mr. Kulbhushan was working for Research and Analysis Wing, which is India’s external spy agency. But New Delhi says the former Navy man, started a business in Iran’s Chabahar area and he was abducted by the Taliban group and sold to Pakistan’s intelligence agencies.
Today Congress leader Gaurav Gogoi said, “They have insulted Indian women and their respect. We condemn it”. He said after the Ministry of External Affairs said Avanti and Chetankul were asked to remove their mangalsutra, bangles, bindi, and shoes. Even after few hours, Chetankul didn’t get her footwear back.”
Mr. Gagoi also said “We want the Modi government to clarify its policy on how it will bring Kulbhushan back to India,” “We want the Indian government to take a strong stand”. On the hand, foreign ministry spokesperson Mr. Raveesh Kumar said, “Pakistan violated the “letter and spirit of our understandings”.
National spokesperson of Congress Khushboo Sundar had this to say about the treatment that Jadhav’s family were given. She said ” Modi ji says bhaiyon and behno. This is an insult to his sister (Kulbhushan’s wife Avanti), and that too on offshore. Really we condemn this act by Pakistan.”
