External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Monday took on Pakistan for not granting a visa to the mother of the former Indian naval official Kulbhushan Jadhav, currently in custody in Pakistan after having been convicted of espionage and terrorist activities.
The Minister’s series of tweets raised the issue even as she reassured Pakistani citizens seeking visas to India for medical reasons.
“I wrote a personal letter to Mr. Sartaj Aziz for the grant of her [Jadhav’s mother] visa to Pakistan.
However, Mr. Aziz has not shown the courtesy even to acknowledge my letter,” Ms. Swaraj tweeted.
She said a visa application was pending for Indian national Avantika Jadhav who wants to meet her son in Pakistan.
In another tweet, the External Affairs Minister said, “I have my sympathies for all Pakistan nationals seeking medical visa for their treatment in India. All that we require is his [Sartaj Aziz] recommendation for the grant of medical visa to Pakistan nationals.” Mr Jadhav, 46, was allegedly arrested by Pakistani authorities in the Balochistan last year.
He has been sentenced to death by a Pakistan military court on charges of espionage and terrorism.
India has made more than a dozen requests for consular access to Mr. Jadhav which Pakistan has not granted so far.
