Jitendra Singh says Pakistan’s decision to allow Jadhav to meet wife is reflection of India’s diplomatic outreach

Union minister Jitendra Singh said on Saturday that Pakistan’s decision to allow Kulbhushan Jadhav to meet his wife was a reflection of the efficacy of the Indian diplomatic outreach and its acceptance around the world.

“I think this is a compliment to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. This (development) is certainly a compliment to the efficacy of India’s diplomatic outreach,” he told reporters.

Pakistan’s Foreign Office said on Friday that Jadhav would be allowed to meet his wife on Pakistani soil. The move came months after New Delhi requested Islamabad to allow Jadhav’s mother to meet him on humanitarian grounds.

Jadhav, a former Indian Navy officer, was sentenced to death by a Pakistani military court in April on charges of spying and terrorism. In May, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) had halted his execution on India’s appeal.

“One of the major achievements of the Modi government on terror from Pakistan and sponsored-terrorism in Kashmir is that India’s viewpoint is now gaining more and more acceptance across the world, from even those countries which were earlier hesitant or had their own reasons not to accept it,” the minister of state in the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) said.

Replying to a question on separatists in the Valley seeking Pakistan’s involvement in any dialogue to resolve the Kashmir issue, Singh said the decision to hold talks with the neighbouring country was the prerogative of the external affairs and home ministries.

“None of us has the mandate to decide on that,” he said.

However, he said, the separatists stand exposed before the Valley’s youth, who have decided to become a part of the Indian development journey. He said 19 young boys and girls qualified for IIT from terror-striken districts of Kashmir this year.

“(The separatists) are the same so-called protagonists who say they do not owe allegiance to the Indian Constitution, but their own children are taking maximum benefits out of it.

“Even holding jobs in the administrative services, I am sure the youth of Kashmir today is no longer ready to be taken by this jugglery.