Pak releases ‘confessional’ video of Jadhav

Pakistan on Thursday released yet another video of Indian death row prisoner Kulbhushan Jadhav in which he purportedly said he had not been harmed in custody and also asked why India was “lying” that he was not working for an intelligence agency.

In what is being described as a confessional video, Jadhav says he is a commissioned officer of the Indian Navy and that his commission has not gone and also purportedly tells that the Indian diplomat who accompanied his family for the meeting “yelled” at his mother.

However, the veracity of the video which was released by the Pakistan Foreign Office could not be ascertained.

The video was released days after India had hit out at Pakistan for violating understandings for the Jadhav-family meet and raised questions about the 47-year-old Indian national’s well-being.

India had also asserted Jadhav appeared coerced and under considerable stress during the tightly-controlled interaction on December 25 in the Pakistan Foreign Office.

During the meeting, whose pictures were released by Pakistan, Jadhav was seen sitting behind a glass screen while his mother and wife sat on the other side. They spoke through intercom and the entire 40-minute proceedings appeared to have been recorded on video.

In the purported video released on Thursday, Jadhav said, “I saw fear in her (mother’s) eyes, the Indian diplomat was shouting at my mother the moment she stepped out. I saw him shouting, yelling at her. This [meeting] was a positive gesture, so that she [my mother] could be happy and I could be happy.”

“I said don’t worry Mummy. They (Pakistan) are taking care of me, they have not touched me. She believed me once she saw me personally.”

However, it was not clear how Jadhav saw the diplomat shouting at his mother once she stepped out. The diplomat accompanying Jadhav's family was India’s Deputy High Commissioner in Islamabad.

"I have to say one thing very important here, for the Indian public, Indian government and the Indian navy, that my commission is not gone. I am a commissioned officer in the Indian navy. Why are you lying about my working for an intelligence agency?" he said.

Pakistan says Jadhav was a commander rank officer in the Indian Navy. But India says he was a former naval officer.

New Delhi also says Jadhav was kidnapped in Iran where he had legitimate business interests, and brought to Pakistan.