RAWALPINDI: A Pakistani army spokesman on Thursday rejected Indian criticism of the treatment of the wife and mother of Indian spy Kulbhushan Jadhav on death row, during their first meeting since his arrest.

India's External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj accused Pakistan of disregarding the cultural and religious sensibilities of Jadhav's family under the pretext of security precautions, including the removal of bangles and other ornaments, as well as a change in clothing and shoes.

However Major-General Asif Ghafoor told a news conference that Pakistan had informed India prior to the arrival of Jadhav's wife and mother that they would have to undergo security clearance before the meeting.

"The Foreign Office had already informed India, that when his family came to see him they would go through security checks and as you are aware of the relationship of India and Pakistan, and the sensitivity of the case, so India was told in advance what kind of security checks they will go through, and it is part of that security."

"Kulbhushan Jadhav is an established terrorist, he is a serving Indian Naval officer. We registered his case, that is a separate issue but there is no compromise on that. But we, as a responsible state, allowed him to meet with his family purely on humanitarian grounds. India did not appreciate it (the meeting), they would never do that. You have seen the rest of the world, especially western countries appreciated our actions."

Major General Asif Ghafoor said India did not want Pakistan to succeed in the war against terrorism and that was why, it had increased ceasefire violations across the Line of Control (LoC) in 2017.

He said 52 civilians were martyred, while 254 suffered injuries in the 1,813 violations, committed by India.

The spokesman said there was no truth in Indian claims that on December 25 their soldiers had entered Pakistan and killed some Pakistani soldiers.

“This is false propaganda, being done by India, to divert focus from the effective struggle of Kashmiris for their freedom from Indian subjugation.”

US Relations

While referring to the United States’ repetitive demands to Pakistan to ‘do more’, he said now was high time for Afghanistan and the US to do more for Pakistan.

"There is no organised infrastructure of any banned organisation in Pakistan. We have fought an imposed and imported war twice in Pakistan and now we cannot do any more for anyone. This is turn for Afghanistan and the US to do more, rather than Pakistan."

He categorically stated that there were no terrorist facilitators in Pakistan, adding that during the last few years the country destroyed terrorist sanctuaries.

He said Pakistan had taken measure for the elimination of terrorist elements from the region.  "We have started the construction of forts and posts on the Afghan border for effective border management. No country is more interested in Afghan peace than us,” he said, adding the US needed to check India's role in the Afghan region.