Indian 'spy' says wife, mother met under duress

By Islamuddin Sajid and Shuriah Niazi
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan / NEW DELHI, India (AA) - An Indian citizen on death row in Pakistan on Thursday accused New Delhi of threatening his wife and mother before their meeting last month.

Kulbhushan Jadhav, who was sentenced to death last April by a military tribunal over allegations of working for the Indian intelligence, met his mother Avanti and wife Chetankul in late December.

The 40-minute meeting, conducted through a glass screen at the Foreign Office in Islamabad, was portrayed as a humanitarian gesture by Pakistan.

In a new video message, released by Pakistan's foreign office, Jadhav said he saw fear in the eyes of his mother and wife during their meeting.
“I saw fear in the eyes of my mother and wife. Why should there be fear? They have been threatened and the Indian diplomat who had come along with my mother was shouting on my mother the moment she stepped out. He was yelling at her. Has she been brought under threat here to meet me?" Jadhav added.

Indian Deputy High Commissioner to Islamabad JP Singh had accompanied the family.

Jadhav also admitted that he had been working for the Indian-spy agency Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) and was a commissioned Indian navy officer.

"My commission is not gone, I am a commissioned officer in the Indian Navy," Jadhav said, rejecting the Indian stance that he is a retired officer.

Meanwhile, India dismissed the video, calling it propaganda.

“Pakistan is simply continuing its practice of putting out coerced statements on video. It is time for them to realize that such propagandistic exercises simply carry no credibility,” said India's Ministry of External Affairs in a statement.

"The absurdity of a captive under duress certifying his own welfare while mouthing allegations of his captors clearly merits no comment," it added.