Compassion and humanitarian considerations are subjective. For Pakistan, it means allowing a person it believes to be a spy to meet his mother and his wife — who haven’t met him in twenty-two months — for a brief, 40-odd minutes on either side of a bulletproof glass partition in the sights of numerous cameras with only intercoms to speak with each other. Even the women were separated from one another by a glass panel. And all this was besides the fact that the entire set up was within a shipping container that was placed in a parking lot of the foreign office. The ‘humanitarianism’ of Pakistan is undoubtedly refreshing to the point that it has allowed the supposed Indian spy to meet his family. But the way it handled the meeting of the family with Jadhav shows the paranoia of Pakistan. While its humanitarianism allows Pakistan to bend to the extent of allowing the family to at least see the man, it does not extend beyond that given its fears of action from India, perhaps to save the man by other means. While the country does use the cover of international conventions when it comes to arranging a meeting with glass panels separating the prisoner from the visitors, it forgets that it is also not following international conventions when it consistently denies consular access to Jadhav despite eighteen requests from India. It is praiseworthy that the authorities of Pakistan left no stone unturned in ensuring that no rescue attempt could be undertaken. They were undoubtedly expecting some form of a military action from India to rescue Jadhav. And although the medical reports that the foreign office displayed showed that Jadhav was in fine fettle, some people privy to the meeting reported seeing injury marks on the former navyman’s head. There was also talk about the coat that Jadhav was wearing to be ill-fitting. Given that he was fully clothed, it could undoubtedly not be made out whether the man has been tortured. Pakistan has also been highlighting videos of Jadhav’s purported confession to various subversive activities, which they claim has not been given under duress.
The issue with Pakistan’s claim is that it is unable to provide clear-cut proof of Jadhav’s involvement besides the video evidence to prove that Jadhav was part of a larger conspiracy against Pakistan. Unlike in the case of Ajmal Amir Kasab, who was seen by the entire world through CCTV footage unleashing violence at innocent people at Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, there is no smoking gun to prove Jadhav’s involvement in any of the said terrorist incidents. While that alone does not mean that he can be let off, it definitely merits allowing consular access to India, given the fact that the guilt of Kulbhushan Jadhav has not been proven conclusively. It must at least keep in mind that the current government, the external affairs ministry in particular, has been taking several measures that are purely in the realm of humanitarian considerations and have nothing to do with bilateral relations of the countries. Both countries have had prisoner exchanges as well. In the case of Jadhav, the Pakistani government needs to be more considerate. Given that the International Court of Justice has stayed the execution of Jadhav and asked the country to comply with allowing consular access to the prisoner, Pakistan should do the needful without dragging its feet. It is true that Pakistan does not bother much if it is damaging its own image further by acting paranoid and denying a man condemned to death even the basic comfort of meeting his family in person for one last time, if it be the case. On the other hand, while bashing Pakistan, we must also notice how coherently and unfailingly the government machinery works in that country. While we in India condemn our courts when our own personal likes or dislikes are not reflected in judgements, Pakistani courts function for the well-being of the country. Whether to promptly judge that Jadhav needs to go to the gallows or whether Nawaz Sharif needs to step down from the post of Prime Minister because of his connections discovered with Panama Papers, the Prosecution mechanism works well and efficiently to take on odds. Sadly, we miss that sincerity in our system.
