January 22, 2025

After beating the drums that it will allow Kulbhushan Jadhav’s family to meet him, how could Pakistan be so cold-hearted as to allow only a conversation over telephone from behind a glass screen? No hug from the wife and no reassuring, ashirvad-giving hand of the mother on the head of a death-row ‘convict’? Pakistan’s attitude shows that it considered this more a photo opportunity – to be aired over channels across the world and splashed in newspapers the day after. After such a sham, the Pakistani foreign office had the gall to tweet that “we keep our commitments”!

But who is it trying to fool? If it had nothing to hide, it should have allowed Jadhav to meet his family properly and in person rather than the cold and perfunctory way it was done. The whole world watched the cold-heartedness of Pakistan. The telephonic interaction could have been done with the wife and mother sitting at their home in India. The purpose of the visit was to let them meet in person and let Jadhav share his experiences. By allowing a staged interaction, Pakistan has shown that it is not interested in solving the problem. The worst part was that Indian High Commissioner J P Singh was just allowed to watch the family talking, without hearing what they were saying to each other.

Further, by being silent on consular access to Jadhav, Pakistan once again showed that it has scant respect for international laws and diplomatic conventions. India has no other alternative but to wait for the ICJ verdict. Meanwhile, it should try and put international pressure on Pakistan through backdoor diplomacy.