India accuses Pakistan of violating human rights
India yesterday accused Pakistan of repeatedly violating human rights by the manner in which the latter had conducted a meeting between a former Indian Navy officer, accused of spying and sentenced to death by a Pakistani military court, and his family in Islamabad earlier this week.
Speaking in the Rajya Sabha, upper House of parliament, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said Pakistan used the emotional reunion of Kulbhushan Jadhav and his wife and mother after 22 months as "a propaganda tool."
"There was violation after violation of human rights. Pakistan should be condemned in the strongest words for this behaviour," she said while making a statement in both Houses of parliament on the meeting between Jadhav and his wife and mother in Islamabad on Monday.
Members of Indian parliament cutting across party lines denounced Pakistan's handling of the meeting between Jadhav and his family and asked the government to take steps for Jadhav's early and safe release. They also urged the international community to condemn Pakistan in the strongest possible terms.
The row over the meeting between Jadhav and his wife and mother stoked fresh tensions between India and Pakistan.
Jadhav's mother Avanti and wife Chetankul were forced to change their dress and take off their mangalsutra (a married Hindu woman wears round her neck), bindi and bangles for the 45-minute meeting on Monday tightly controlled by Pakistani officers.
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