Pakistan claims to have found ‘metallic substance’ in shoes of Jadhav’s wife’

A “metallic substance” was found in the shoes of the wife of Kulbhushan Jadhav when she went to meet him in Islamabad, a report in Dawn said on Wednesday quoting the Foreign Office.

The shoes were retained by security officials prior to the meeting with the Indian death row prisoner

In a statement on Tuesday night, Pakistan rejected as “baseless” India’s contentions that Jadhav’s wife and mother were harassed and claimed that his wife’s shoes were confiscated on security grounds as there was “something” in it.

“There was something in the shoe. It is being investigated. We gave her a pair of replacement shoes. All her jewellery etc were returned after the meeting,” Foreign Office spokesperson Mohammad Faisal said.

The Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement on Tuesday that Pakistan went so far as to have the mangal sutra, bangles and bindi of Jadhav’s mother and wife removed before they could meet him. It also accused Pakistan of disregarding cultural and religious sensibilities of family members under the pretext of security.

In the December 25 meeting, the pictures of which were released by Pakistan, Jadhav was seen sitting behind a glass screen, while his mother and wife sat on the other side. They spoke through intercom and the entire 40-minute proceedings appeared to have been videographed.

Jadhav, who was captured in March last year, was sentenced to death by a Pakistani military court for alleged spying, an accusation that India has dismissed as concocted. New Delhi says Jadhav was kidnapped in Iran where he had legitimate business interests, and brought to Pakistan. To save Jadhav, India moved the International Court of Justice, which ordered Pakistan in May to stay his execution.