New Delhi/Islamabad: In another propaganda effort, Pakistan on Thursday released a fresh video of imprisoned former Indian naval officer Kulbhushan Jadhav in which the retired officer — obviously speaking under coercion — alleged that Deputy High Commissioner J.P. Singh had shouted at his mother after the meeting between Mr Jadhav and his family members on December 25, saying he had seen fear in the eyes of his mother and wife.
While also claiming that Pakistani authorities had not harmed him in any way, Mr Jadhav toed the Pakistani line that he was still a serving Indian naval officer. India blasted the video, saying that “Pakistan is simply continuing its practice of putting out coerced statements on video” and that “it is time for them to realise that such propagandistic exercises simply carry no credibility”.
New Delhi further said, “The absurdity of a captive under duress certifying his own welfare while mouthing allegations of his captors clearly merits no comment,” adding that “Pakistan is best advised to fulfil its international obligations, whether it pertains to consular relations or UNSC resolutions 1267 and 1373 on terrorism and to desist from continuing violations of human rights of an Indian national”.
Mr Jadhav had last year been sentenced to death by a Pakistani military court on charges of espionage and sabotage, allegations which India had dismissed as false.
But what gave the game away was Mr Jadhav’s comment that he heard the “Indian diplomat” shouting at his mother when the fact was that Mr Jadhav himself was speaki-ng to his mother and wife from behind a glass screen while Indian Deputy High Commissioner J.P. Singh was further separated from Mr Jadhav’s family as he was “kept behind an additional partition that did not allow him access to the meeting as agreed”.
