Pakistan on Thursday said it had allowed Kulbhushan Jadhav’s mother and wife to visit Islamabad to meet him “purely on humanitarian grounds”, and that the former Indian Navy officer was not under threat of immediate execution.

A Pakistani military court sentenced the 47-year-old to death for espionage and terrorism. On Wednesday, the Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi issued visas to his mother and wife to meet him on December 25.

“Let me assure you that Jadhav is under no threat of immediate execution, and his mercy petitions are still pending,” Foreign Office Spokesperson Mohammad Faisal said. “The mother and wife of Commander Jadhav are being provided with a meeting with him in light of Islamic traditions and based on purely humanitarian grounds.”

An official from the Indian High Commission in Islamabad will also be present when the two women meet Jadhav. Pakistan is ready to permit them to talk to the media, Faisal said.

The visit was arranged after weeks of talks between the two countries and eight months after Jadhav was sentenced. India had moved the International Court of Justice against the verdict in May, after which the court stayed his execution. A final verdict in the case is pending.

India has demanded consular access to Jadhav under the rules of the Vienna Convention – an international treaty on consular relations between independent states – but Pakistan has rejected the request repeatedly.