Pak releases 'confessional' video of alleged Indian 'spy'

Islamabad/New Delhi, Mar 29: Another war of words broke out today between India and Pakistan after the Pakistan Army released a video of an arrested ex-Indian Navy officer purportedly "confessing" his "involvement" in terror activities in Balochistan which India promptly rubbished.

The head of Pakistan Army's Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Lt Gen Asim Bajwa and Federal Information Minister Pervez Rashid held a press conference in Islamabad to release the video, saying Kul Bhoshan Yadav "confessed" of working for Indian intelligence agency RAW to "foment trouble" in restive province of Balochistan.

Yadav had been arrested recently in Pakistan, which described him as an officer of the Indian Navy, a claim debunked by the Indian government which said he had no link with the Government since his premature retirement from the Navy but Bajwa claimed that Yadav was still a serving officer due to retire in 2022.

Official sources in New Delhi rubbished the purported "confession" and said it was Pakistan's "propagandist ploy" to deflect the attention from its own problem of "home-grown terrorism".

The sources also said India was not given the consular access to Yadav despite its requesting for the same and alleged that the release of the video was Pakistan's attempt to deflect the attention from the Pathankot terror strike probe. Citing Yadav's case, Bajwa accused India of carrying out "state-sponsored terrorism" in Pakistan.

There cannot be a clearer "evidence of Indian interference in Pakistan", he claimed. The Pakistanis claimed that Yadav had established a small business in Chabahar in Iran and had "directed" anti-Pakistan activities in Karachi and Balochistan. "He converted to Islam and worked at Gadani under the cover of a scrap dealer," Bajwa said at a joint press conference with Rashid.

PTI