Senior Samajwadi Party leader Naresh Agrawal on Wednesday appeared to justify Pakistan’s treatment of former Indian Navy officer Kulbhushan Jadhav, who has been in Islamabad’s custody since his arrest in 2016, ANI reported.

The Rajya Sabha MP said since Pakistan considers Jadhav a terrorist, it is treating him accordingly, and added that India must also treat terrorists in a similar manner, according to ANI.

“I don’t understand why the media is talking only about Kulbhushan Jadhav,” Agrawal said. “There are hundreds of Indians languishing in jails in Pakistan.” The Indian media must talk about all of them, he said.

However, Agrawal later denied the statement and told Times Now that he only said that people should focus on the many others languishing in Pakistani jails as well.

In March 2016, a military court in Pakistan sentenced Jadhav to death on charges of espionage and terrorism. 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.

Agrawal’s statement comes as India and Pakistan have been up in arms over the meeting between Jadhav and his family on December 25. Pakistan was criticised for forcing Jadhav’s family, whom he was meeting after months, to speak to him through an intercom with a glass wall between them. Pakistan had justified it, saying the barrier was needed for security reasons.

After Agrawal’s comment, Bharatiya Janata Party leaders criticised him, and the Samajwadi Party’s ally Congress.

BJP spokesperson GVL Narasimha Rao took to Twitter to say that the comments are “symptomatic of betrayal of national interest by the Congress-led UPA over Pakistan”. They “side with Pakistan, wine and dine with Pakistani leaders, abuse Indian army chief, question surgical strikes, call Kulbhushan Jadhav a terrorist,” Rao wrote.

BJP leader Subramanian Swamy said that the parliamentary affairs minister should introduce a resolution seeking Naresh Agrawal’s apology to the House. “If he refuses, we should move a motion to examine whether his conduct is not befitting that of an MP, and therefore his membership should be terminated,” Swamy told ANI.

Rebel Congress leader Shehzad Poonawalla, who has often criticised his own party for its “dynasty politics”, also rebuked Agrawal on Twitter.