New Delhi: After former Indian navy officer Kulbhushan Jadhav met his mother and wife in Islamabad under intimidating circumstances, sources told CNN-News18 that a spliced and edited video of the meeting may be the latest propaganda tool that Pakistan may use to project Jadhav as an Indian spy.
The apprehensions stem from the de-briefing of Jadhav’s mother with officials of the External Affairs Ministry upon their return from Pakistan.
Official sources told CNN-News18 that when Jadhav met his mother and wife, he was clearly under duress. He told his mother to believe the Pakistani version of what he was “caught doing”. However, his mother immediately sensed he was not himself and mouthing “tutored sentences”. She urged him to speak the truth — that he was in Iran for his business. She asked him not to be under any pressure and pour his heart out to her.
This entire conversation was videographed by Pakistan, while India was not allowed to record the meeting. It is feared that Pakistan may edit the footage and use it for propoganda, claiming that Jadhav had confessed before his family as well.
Since India does not have a recording, there will be no 'alternative video' to prove Pakistan’s lies.
Addressing the Rajya Sabha on Thursday, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj has accused Pakistan of using Kulbhushan Jadhav’s meeting with his mother and wife for propaganda, punching holes in Islamabad’s justification of their treatment. Since Pakistani authorities made the two women remove their bindi and mangal sutra, Jadhav initially thought his mother had been widowed, Swaraj told the Upper House.
Jadhav’s wife was reportedly so overwhelmed with the situation that she broke down several times and spent the 40 minutes sobbing, barely able to speak to her husband.
The strong stand taken by Jadhav’s mother, Avanti, re-affirms the decisions taken by the MEA to send Jadhav’s mother along with his wife as Pakistan had initially given a visa only to Chetna Jadhav but later relented when India insisted that mother Avanti should also be allowed access to meet her son after 22 months in captivity.
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