Pakistan to allow Indian national Kulbhushan Jadhav meet his wife on 'humanitarian grounds'

In a sudden move, Pakistan on Friday announced said that it will allow Indian national Kulbhudhan Jadhav to meet his wife on humanitarian grounds, according to several media reports.

Pakistan government to arrange a meeting of Kulbhushan Jadhav (Indian national arrested on espionage charges) with his wife, on 'humanitarian grounds'

— ANI (@ANI) November 10, 2017

Jadhav, 46, was arrested by Pakistan from the restive Balochistan province in 2016 and was sentenced to death by a Pakistani military court on charges of espionage and terrorism. The press release uploaded on Pakistan’s foreign ministry website states that Jadhav has “confessed” in a Pakistani court “that he was tasked by RAW to plan, coordinate and organise espionage, terrorist and sabotage activities aimed at destabilizing and waging war against Pakistan”. [caption id=“attachment_4203835” align=“alignnone” width=“825”] Screenshot of the press release uploaded by Pakistan’s foreign ministry on its website. mofa.gov.pk[/caption] Although, India acknowledged that Jadhav had served in the Indian Navy but denied any connection with the government. India was trying to arrange a meeting of Jadhav with his family members since July and had also moved a visa application for his mother. Minister of External Affairs Sushma Swaraj even wrote a “personal letter” to the advisor to the prime minister of Pakistan on national security and foreign affairs Sartaj Aziz asking for approval of visa application of Jadhav’s mother so that she may travel to Pakistan. Pakistan claims its security forces arrested Jadhav from its restive Balochistan province on 3 March last year after he reportedly entered from Iran. India had approached the International Court of Justice  (ICJ) in May seeking a provisional stay to the execution of Jadhav which was granted. The court had fixed 13 June, 13 September and 13 December as dates for India to file its documents and for Pakistan to file counter-documents. The order was made after taking into account the views of the parties. After Jadhav was awarded capital punishment by a Pakistani military court in April this year, India challenged the verdict in the top UN court, accusing Islamabad of violating the Vienna Convention by failing to provide Jadhav with consular access which it said was in breach of international human rights laws. On 18 May, the ICJ ruled that Jadhav must not be put to death by Islamabad until the ICJ has had enough time to pass the final judgment in the case, and ordered a stay against the execution. Pakistan had earlier said that Jadhav purportedly “confessed” to being a spy forRAW in a video release. With inputs from agencies