Sushma Swaraj explains how Pakistan's theory of 'chip in shoe' of Jadhav's wife is farce

NEW DELHI: In a strongly-worded statement in Parliament on Thursday, Minister of External Affairs Sushma Swaraj lashed out at Pakistan for the treatment meted out to Kulbhushan Jadhav's family.

She tore into Pakistan for claiming that there might have been a chip hidden in the shoe of Jadhav's wife Chetna. Sushma said that both the ladies boarded two international flights to reach Pakistan, and the chip would have been detected at the airports if there would have been any such thing.

"Both the women boarded an Air India flight and an Emirates flight to reach Pakistan. How could she have cleared the security checks if there was anything suspicious in her shoe? Even if they say that we have control over Air India, there is no control that we have over Emirates. How would she have been able to cross that security check?" she asked

Calling the meeting an "absurdity beyond measure", she condemned Pakistan for making concocted statements and creating a scene out of nothing.

"Even after her repeated attempts, the shoes of Kulbhushan Jadhav's wife were not returned. It is an absurdity beyond measure," Sushma said in the House.

She also claimed that Pakistan made a mockery of this meeting and used it only as a propaganda. "Kulbhushan Jadhav's mother was not allowed to speak in Marathi, 2 Pakistani officials present in the meeting kept stopping her repeatedly but when she continued, the intercom was switched off," she recalled what the two women were made to face in Pakistan.

Pakistan has "confiscated" the shoes of Kulbhushan Jadhav's wife as they believed "there was something metallic in it". The shoes have been sent for forensic examination to find out the "nature of the suspected presence of a foreign object."