Pakistan’s Foreign Office said it is considering granting a visa to imprisoned naval officer Kulbhushan Jadhav’s mother, The Dawn reported on Thursday. Islamabad’s Foreign Office Spokesperson Nafees Zakaria said Avantika Jadhav’s petition was currently under review. The announcement follows Minister of External Affairs Sushma Swaraj’s statement that her Pakistani counterpart Sartaj Aziz had not replied to her letter seeking a visa for the prisoner’s mother.
Meanwhile, India’s Ministry of External Affairs Spokesperson said there has been no progress in gaining consular access to the prisoner or in securing a Pakistani visa for his mother, ANI reported.
Zakaria told media persons that “conditions” were being placed on the approval of medical visa applications filed by Pakistani patients applying for treatment in India. The spokesperson said that demanding Pakistani Foreign Affairs Minister Sartaj Aziz’s recommendation for visa applications was against “diplomatic norms”.
Jadhav was arrested from Pakistan’s Balochistan province in March 2016 and was sentenced to death by a Pakistani military court on charges of espionage and terrorism in April 2017.
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