India should have said a big ‘thank you’ to the Pakistani government for allowing the wife and the mother of jailed, convicted and sentenced to death RAW spy Kulbhushan Jadhav to meet him on the Christmas Day.
At least, the family and Kulbhushan Jadhav must be happy over the meeting and grateful to the Pakistani government for giving them a chance to meet and speak to each other, though through thick glass and on telecom, as per the protocol.
It was a good effort by Pakistan to send goodwill gestures to the audience in India and elsewhere.
The ‘purely humanitarian’ move, however, is being spoiled by the Indian government and its media on some flimsy grounds, and the ultimate sufferers of this bashing exercise will be the family of Kulbhushan Jadhav. The family, while in Pakistan thanked the Pakistani government for being considerate towards them, and in India, they have been wearing a graceful mum despite bashing by the Indian government and the media of Pakistan.
More meetings are likely to happen as Pakistan did not call it the final or last meeting. Kulbhushan Jhadav is a condemned prisoner but it is unlikely that he will be sent to gallows.
India accuses Pakistan of violating the agreed terms for the meeting. Indian demand for a consular access to what it called its retired navy official was not meant for this meeting. India has long been demanding consular access to Kulbhushan Jhadev, which Pakistan denies. India has moved the International Court of Justice on the grounds of Vienna Conventions. The Indian government, however, made it an issue that the pair of shoes of Kulbhushan Jhadev’s wife were not returned. Her bindi and mangal sutra were also confiscated before the meeting, which, in the Indian culture, is a hostile and indecent act. Also, soon after the meeting, the Pakistani Foreign Ministry released the photos of the meeting and dubbed Kulbhushan Jhadev the face of Indian terrorism in Pakistan. His mother was hackled by a woman reporter as the “mother of the killer”.
Pakistan need not explain the accusations. Both countries play to their domestic galleries. The aftermaths of the meeting explain it all. Pakistan should investigate the shoes of the spy’s wife and if something fishy is found, it should convey the details to the Indian government. If nothing comes out of the shoes’ sole, it should send a note with a few sentences of apology to the family and also return the pair of shoes. The atmosphere of malice and mistrust running high between the two neighbours will not fade anytime soon.
Either side needs to take a deep breath and take the meeting of the death row spy and his family a starting point for a backchannel diplomacy. Pakistan has got vibrant and forward-looking army chief, Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa, who is open to follow government’s policy on India, unlike his predecessors. On the other side, however, sits the hawkish government of Modi, which is not ready to change its political direction. Ceasefire violations will also bring no good to any side. As Pakistan and India, both will have elections in 2018, political parties on either side should show maturity and make India-Pakistan ties a crucial part of their campaigns.
Politics played on the grounds of Pakistan-India friendship will bring smiles in the region.
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