Kulbhushan Jadhav’s Kin Met Him Today, But What Preceded This?

Jadhav’s wife & mother will arrive in Islamabad on Monday, 25 December to meet the Indian prisoner on death row.

Image used for representational purposes.

(Photo: Rhythum Seth/The Quint)

(Kulbhushan Jadhav's wife and mother will arrive in Islamabad on Monday, 25 December to meet the Indian prisoner on death row, the Pakistan Foreign Office has said. In light of this development, The Quint is republishing this story, which was first published on 23 December 2017.)

Even as the mother and wife of Kulbushan Jadhav, the alleged Indian spy who remains incarcerated in a Pakistani jail for over a year now, are “ready” to meet him, they have been advised by Indian officials not to carry any food items, which his captors might suspect to be “poisoned”. A relative close to the Jadhavs told The Quint:

The mother-wife duo is ready, although Kulbhushan’s parents have not been intimated about any specific date for their departure to Pakistan. They have not been informed as to whether they will fly into Pakistan or take the land route via Wagah.

Jadhav’s Relative to The Quint

Also Read: Pak Says ‘Processing’ Visa Applications of Jadhav’s Wife, Mother

Forty-seven-year-old Jadhav, who was caught in Balochistan on 3 March 2016 on charges of spying for the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), has had a harrowing time, especially when Pakistani authorities sought the death penalty before a court trying his case ever since he was nabbed after being allegedly “betrayed” by non-state actors active on the Iran-Pakistan border.

Jadhav was awarded the death penalty by a Field General Court Martial (FGCM) on 10 April 2017, but a month later, the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which India had moved, stayed his execution, paving the way for a degree of “cooperation” between Pakistani and Indian officials. It is, however, not known whether the “deal” to allow Jadhav’s mother and wife to meet him in jail will eventually lead to his release.

Jadhav’s mother and wife have put together some pieces of clothing, including a few sweaters and jackets, which they will carry with them whenever they get the green signal from the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), which is coordinating with the Pakistani Foreign Office for the impending meeting.

Also Read: Jadhav Under No Threat of Immediate Execution, Says Pakistan

‘Discretion’ & ‘Silence’ Essential to Jadhav’s Case

While the Jadhavs are, understandably, cagey about revealing all the details of the forthcoming meeting – and this has many stark similarities with the celebrated 1960s spy exchange case involving the KGB’s Rudolf Abel and the American U2 pilot Gary Powers – they are hopeful that the meeting with Kulbhushan Jadhav may take place “around New Year”.

“There is no doubt that the parents are tense, as they have been since he was caught in Balochistan,” a relative close to Kulbhushan Jadhav told The Quint.

Three days ago, an MEA official called up Jadhav’s father, Sudhir Jadhav, a retired Mumbai Police officer, to share the news that the Pakistani authorities would allow the alleged spy’s mother and wife to meet him at an undisclosed location.

Government sources said that the first contact between the Indian security establishment and Jadhav’s parents took place after the latter was caught in Balochistan.

“These contacts were usually via phone and only to apprise the parents about his well-being and having them swear not to speak about their son’s case to anybody else,” the sources said, adding that “discretion and silence” were essential to allow for a more reasoned, rather than an emotional approach to Jadhav’s case.

Also Read: Pakistan grants visas to Kulbhushan Jadhav's wife, mother

No Prior Knowledge of Jadhav’s Absence

The sources said that Kulbhushan Jadhav’s parents had “no prior knowledge” that their son’s long and unexplained absence from home was on “account of the missions that he would go out on.”

When Jadhav was trapped and caught by the Pakistani ISI, his parents knew that he was a businessman who would frequent Iran. His “passport” showed that he was an Indian navy commander. But this could have been a ‘cover.’ A relative of Jadhav’s said:

The father was shocked since he did not know that his son was functioning under deep cover. However, he remained calm even under intense pressure, while Jadhav’s mother displayed equal, if not more, courage.

Jadhav’s Relative 

The relative added that the parents and the wife broke down when they watched video grabs of Jadhav’s “show trial” in Pakistan.

“They got no information about Kulbhushan. And whatever little his employers shared was very cryptic,” the relative said.

New Hope

While the death sentence awarded to Kulbhushan in April this year was a crushing blow for the parents, their hopes soared when a retired Pakistani Lieutenant Colonel Mohammad Habib Zahir, believed to be working for the ISI, went missing in Nepal after he was lured into that country with the promise of a job with a lucrative salary.

The Quint had reported in detail on 11 April 2017 that Lt Col Zahir was abducted, most likely in an elaborate and carefully designed Indian intelligence operation, to create conditions for a spy swap – in this case with Kulbhushan Jadhav. Indian security sources said that Lt Col Zahir had operated in Nepal when he was an active ISI operative.