In Its Latest Stunt, Pakistan Forces Jadhav To Say His Family Was ‘Threatened’ By India, Releases Video

Pakistan has released a new propaganda video of former Indian Navy officer Kulbhushan Jadhav in which he is purportedly heard saying that his family was "threatened" by India, Dawn has reported.

According to the report, Jadhav can be seen claiming that he "saw fear" in the eyes of his mother and wife when he met them in Islamabad last month.

"The Indian diplomat accompanying my mother and wife started yelling at them as soon as they stepped out of the meeting," the daily quoted Jadhav, who was reportedly kidnapped by the Inter-Services Intelligence from Iran and presented as an Indian spy active in Balochistan, as saying.

"I have something very important to say here to the Indian people, the government and the Indian navy: I am a commissioned officer in the Indian Navy — my commission is not over," Jadhav says in the video.

Reacting to the video, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has said that Pakistan is indulging in false propaganda.

This is the latest in a series of videos that Pakistan has released over the last one year. In all these videos, experts have said, Jadhav appears to be reading from a script in an atmosphere of coercion. Pakistan made an unsuccessful attempt to present one such video as evidence in the International Court of Justice (ICJ). India moved the ICJ after Pakistan refused to grant consular access under the rules of the Vienna Convention. The court had not allowed Pakistan to play the video.

According to the MEA, Pakistan had violated the understanding reached between the two countries regarding Jadhav’s meeting with his family. Pakistan allowed its media to approach Jadhav’s mother and wife, giving journalists an to “harass and hector them and hurl false and motivated accusations".

Among other things, Jadhav’s mother was prevented from talking in her native language and was repeatedly interrupted. The women were forced to remove mangal sutra, bangles and bindi, and were asked to change in attire that was not warranted by security. Pakistani authorities also refused to return shoes of Jadhav’s wife after the meeting and later claimed that it had found a ‘chip’ installed in it.