Pak gesture: Allows Jadhav to meet wife

Pakistan on Friday said it will allow convicted Indian death row prisoner Kulbhushan Jadhav to meet his wife, months after India had requested Islamabad to grant a visa to his mother on humanitarian grounds.

The decision has been taken "purely on humanitarian grounds" and conveyed to the Indian authorities, the Foreign Office spokesperson Mohammad Faisal said in a statement.

Jadhav was sentenced to death by a Pakistani military court in April on charges of espionage and terrorism. The International Court of Justice in May halted his execution on India's appeal.

It is not clear what prompted Islamabad to allow Jadhav’s wife to meet him in Pakistan. There is speculation that the two countries discussed the issue in a

recent meeting between External Affairs Minister Sushma Sawraj and the newly-appointed Pakistani High Commissioner to New Delhi Sohail Mahmood.

India had requested for a Pakistani visa for Jadhav's mother, Avantika, who wanted to meet her son in Pakistan.

Pakistan has repeatedly denied India consular access to Jadhav on the ground that it was not applicable in cases related to spies.

A request from External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj to her then counterpart Sartaz Aziz too had gone unanswered, prompting New Delhi to refuse to entertain requests for medical visa from Pakistan unless the request came from Aziz.