If alleged Indian spy Kulbhushan Jadhav's mother is granted a visa, it would provide India and Pakistan with an opportunity to show that humanity "can still shine through" and also help in "lowering the temperature" in bilateral ties between both countries, a Pakistani daily said on Saturday.
An editorial published in Pakistani daily Dawn said that the visa application of Jadhav's mother "is the latest opportunity for India and Pakistan to back away from an increasingly confrontational stance against each other."
A Pakistani Army court sentenced Jadhav to death in April this year after the Field General Court Martial found him guilty of "espionage and sabotage activities" in Pakistan. The neighbouring country has claimed that Jadhav was arrested from Balochistan province by security forces on March 3, 2016, after he entered the territory from Iran.
The editorial said: "The reasons for Jadhav's conviction and incarceration suggest that Pakistan may not be legally required to allow his mother to visit him or indeed grant her a visa at all, but it ought to be considered on humanitarian grounds."
It added that a meeting between Jadhav and his mother "would be humane and in no way undermine Pakistan's case against him." "A meeting between mother and son is very different to granting consular access, which in any case is being litigated by India in the International Court of Justice," the editorial said.
It further added that if Jadhav's mother was allowed to meet her son, who is on a death sentence, could also demonstrate that the "convicted spy" was being treated according to the law of the country and that "his safety is being taken care of inside a Pakistani prison."
However, the editorial also said that the move would not be enough to reverse the growing tensions between the two countries.
"India appears to be in no mood to talk to Pakistan and Prime Minister Narendra Modi's crackdown in India-held Kashmir shows no sign of abating... But small gestures can have a way of lowering the temperature in the overall relationship between India and Pakistan and opening the door to further sensible measures," it said.
Pakistan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Nafees Zakaria had said on Thursday that the country is considering India's request to grant a visa to Jadhav's mother so that she can travel to the country to visit her son.
However, Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Gopal Baglay told the media on Thursday, July 13, that "there has been no change in position on providing consular access and visa for his mother. There has been no progress on that front."
On July 10, India's Minister of External Affairs Sushma Swaraj had lashed out at Pakistan Foreign Affairs Adviser Sartaj Aziz for not having "the courtesy even to acknowledge" her letter requesting him to grant a visa to Avantika.
"We also have a visa application pending for an Indian national Avantika Jadhav who wants to meet her son in Pakistan against whom they have pronounced a death sentence. I wrote a personal letter to Sartaj Aziz for the grant of her visa to Pakistan. However, Aziz has not shown the courtesy even to acknowledge my letter," Swaraj had said in a series of tweets.
