Shoes of Kulbhushan Jadhav’s wife contained metal object, says Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: The row over the meeting between Indian national Kulbhushan Jadhav and his wife and mother — Chetna and Avanti — continued to generate heat with Pakistan claiming on Wednesday that Chetna’s shoes contained a metal object, confirming India’s suspicions that Islamabad was going to come up with a mischievous allegation.

The Pakistani claim that the so-called object was a hidden camera or recording chip was anticipated by the Indian foreign ministry, which, in a statement on Tuesday, warned, “For some inexplicable reason, despite her repeated requests, the shoes of the wife of Shri Jadhav were not returned to her after the meeting.We would caution against any mischievous intent in this regard.”
Islamabad’s claim came even as MPs in India united in outrage in Parliament to raise anti-Pakistan slogans and condemn the insulting and intimidating behaviour meted out to the women during the meeting held in the ministry of foreign affairs in Islamabad.

Foreign minister Sushma Swaraj was present in the Lok Sabha when MPs from Shiv Sena, Congress and Trinamool Congress censured Pakistan and demanded that Jadhav be brought back to India. Swaraj said she will make a statement about the incident in Parliament on Thursday.
While several members raised anti-Pakistan slogans on Wednesday during zero hour, Congress leader in the Lok Sabha, Mallikarjun Kharge, demanded Jadhav’s safe return. Shiv Sena’s Arvind Sawant also said India should not remain silent. Describing India’s western neighbour as “hypocritical”, Trinamool Congress leader Saugata Roy condemned Pakistan while AIADMK leader M Thambidurai said it was an insult to India that Jadhav’s wife was asked to remove her bangles, bindi and mangalsutra, all of them symbols of a married woman in India.
While dismissing Indian charges of intimidating and insulting behaviour, Pakistan foreign office spokesperson Muhammad Faisal said, “There was something in the shoe. It is being investigated. We gave her (Chetna) a pair of replacement shoes. All her jewellery etc was returned after the meeting.”
Following the meeting, several journalists were chanting Pakistani slogans as the women left the foreign office.
After the meeting, India had said in a statement that Jadhav’s family was prevented from communicating in Marathi and the women were made to change their attire. The Indian deputy high commissioner accompanying them was barred from listening to the conversation and was allowed to observe the meeting only after he protested and the media was allowed to harass the women.
Pakistan rejected the Indian charges as “baseless allegations and twists” and said, “We do not wish to indulge in a meaningless battle of words. Our openness and transparency belies these allegations. If Indian concerns were serious, the guests or the Indian diplomat should have raised them during the visit with the media, which was readily available, but at a safe distance, as requested by India.”
He claimed that Jadhav’s mother had publicly thanked Pakistan for the humanitarian gesture in front of the media. “Nothing more needs to be said,” he remarked.
The in-camera meeting of Jadhav with his mother and wife through a glass wall on December 25 at the Pakistani foreign affairs ministry has seen Islamabad trying to play it up as a magnanimous goodwill gesture after repeated requests for access and India accusing Islamabad of violating mutual understanding on how the interaction will take place.
The foreign ministry affairs also said Jadhav appeared to have been coerced and under considerable stress during the “tightly-controlled” interaction during which he offered apparently tutored sentences about his complicity in terror activities in Pakistan.