Sushma Swaraj to make statement on Kulbushan Jadhav in Parliament today

NEW DELHI: External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj will make a statement in the Lok Sabha on Thursday on the treatment meted out by Pakistan to the family members of Kulbhushan Jadhav.

Leaders across party lines on Wednesday condemned Pakistan's "misbehaviour" with the wife and mother of alleged Indian spy Kulbhushan Jadhav during the meeting in Islamabad on Monday, with the issue figuring inside the Lok Sabha as well as in the Parliament galleries.

During the Zero Hour, members of various political parties, including the Congress, Shiv Sena, Trinamool Congress and AIADMK, strongly protested the way Jadhav's family members were treated by Pakistan authorities when they had gone there to meet Jadhav, who is languishing in a Pakistani prison.

The meeting between Jadhav and his mother and wife took place on December 25 at the Pakistani foreign affairs ministry in Islamabad after repeated requests by India for family access.

On Tuesday, India accused Pakistan of violating mutual understanding on Jadhav's meeting with his family, and said the Indian national appeared coerced and under considerable stress during the tightly-controlled interaction.

Pakistan went so far as to have the mangal sutra, bangles and bindi of his mother and wife removed before they could meet him, the external affairs ministry had said on Tuesday.

The Pakistan Foreign Office on Wednesday said the shoes of Jadhav's wife were confiscated as a "metallic substance" had been detected in them.

Jadhav, a former Indian Navy officer, is on death row in Pakistan on charges of spying and terrorism. His mother and wife met him in Islamabad on Monday after 22 months, since his arrest by Pakistan. On May 18, 2017, the International Court of Justice stayed the hanging, after India approached it against the death sentence.