Pakistan's 1.30-minute propaganda video with Abhinandan Varthaman has 21 cuts

Hyderabad: Pakistan has put out a propaganda video clip purporting to show Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman praising the Pakistan Army and accusing the Indian media of exaggeration.

The video shared by Pakistan journalist Hamid Mir on Twitter purports to show Wg Cmdr Abhinandan saying, “Indian media hamesha baat bada chada ke kehti hain. Woh choti si cheez hoti hain usko itna aag lagake... itna mirch lagake bolte hain woh... usme log behkave mein aajate hain (Indian media exaggerates things, they spice it up so much that people get swayed.”)

This was immediately challenged by Indian Twitter users who pointed out that the one-and-a-half minute video had 15 to 21 cuts. One cut appeared mid-sentence, between the words “Indian media” and “baat bada chada ke”.

The video statement allegedly recorded before his release shows him saying he only had a pistol with him when he landed in Pakistan.

He was surrounded by an angry mob. The video shows him saying he threw away his pistol and tried to escape.

He dismisses the incident of the people beating him by saying their “josh” was high. When he was being attacked by the mob, he was saved by two soldiers. After that he was taken to the Pakistan Army unit where he was given first aid and taken to a hospital.

He calls the Pakistan Army “a professional service”. “I see peace in it, I have spent time with the Pakistan Army and I am very impressed,” he says in the video that is punctuated by very visible cuts.