India has informed Islamabad that the mother and wife of convicted Indian spy Kulbhushan Jadhav will arrive in Pakistan on December 25 to hold a scheduled meeting with the spy.
The two women will arrive in the country through a commercial flight and will leave Pakistan the same day after the meeting, the Foreign Office said on Saturday.
Indian deputy high commissioner in Islamabad will accompany the duo during the meeting. One or two officers of the FO will also be present during this time.
New Delhi conveyed this information to Islamabad after, according to diplomatic sources DawnNews spoke to, Pakistan gave India the deadline of tonight to provide the requisite information about the spy's family members' visit or risk the meeting being deferred or cancelled.
The sources had earlier said that Pakistan has completed the preparations to arrange the meeting between Jadhav and his family next week, but India was delaying providing relevant information about his mother and wife's visit to Islamabad.
The Indian High Commission was informed about the issuance of the deadline, the sources had said. They said Pakistan needed time to bring Jadhav to the Foreign Office and for other security-related matters.
Until this moment, India had not communicated to Pakistan when and through which flight the two women would reach Islamabad, the sources had said. It was also not made clear whether Jadhav's two children would also travel to Pakistan.
In preparation for the meeting, Pakistan has deployed security and traffic personnel within and outside the FO.
The meeting will last between 15 minutes to an hour, diplomatic sources said. They said Jadhav's mother and wife would be allowed to speak to media representatives if they so desire.
This meeting between the spy and his family members will not be the last, the sources said.
The Pakistani High Commission in New Delhi had issued visas to Jadhav's mother and wife earlier in the week.
The visas were issued after Pakistan decided to allow Jadhav's mother to visit him, in addition to his wife.
Pakistan had initially offered a meeting between Jadhav and his wife on “humanitarian grounds”. However, India made the acceptance of the offer conditional to permission for his mother and an Indian diplomat to accompany her. After extensive deliberations, the Indian request was allowed and last week Dec 25 was proposed as the meeting date.
Jadhav, who was captured by Pakistani security forces on March 3, 2016, in Balochistan, was sentenced to death by a military tribunal earlier this year for his involvement in terrorism and espionage. His appeals against the conviction have been rejected by the military appellate court and his mercy petition has been lying with Army Chief Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa.
India has challenged Pakistan’s refusal to grant consular access to the spy in the International Court of Justice (ICJ). The ICJ is hearing the case and has restrained the Pakistan government from executing Jadhav till it decides the case.