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Pakistan Claims Kulbhushan Jadhav Submitted Mercy Petition To Its Army Chief

India has dismissed Jadhav's second "confessional video" saying it shows the torture inflicted upon him.
Hindustan Times via Getty Images

ISLAMABAD -- Indian national Kulbhushan Jadhav, sentenced to death by a Pakistani military court, has filed a mercy petition to Pakistan Army chief Gen. Qamar Javed Bajwa, the Army said on Thursday.

The Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), in a statement, claimed that in his plea, Jadhav has "admitted his involvement in espionage, terrorist and subversive activities" in Pakistan and "expressed remorse" at the resultant loss of lives and extensive damage to property.

"Seeking forgiveness for his actions he has requested the Chief of Army Staff to spare his life on compassionate grounds," the ISPR said.

The statement said that Jadhav, a retired Indian Navy officer, had earlier appealed to the Military Appellate Court which was rejected.

Under the law, he is eligible to appeal for clemency to the Chief of Army Staff (COAS) and if rejected, subsequently to the Pakistan President.

The military also released a "second confessional video", in which purportedly Jadhav can be seen "accepting his acts of terrorism and espionage".

The Army said it released the video "so that the world should know what India has done and continues to do against Pakistan."

Meanwhile, India maintains that the second confession video of Jadhav released by Pakistan is doctored, the defense experts on Friday opined the same, adding that the video shows the extent to which the alleged Indian spy was tortured to say all that.

Defense experts Sunil Deshpande and Shivali Deshpande both observed that from the marks seen on Jadhav's face in the video showed that he has been tortured to forcefully say it.

Shivali also argued that a confession video is shot with one camera, instead of a multi-camera setup as used for this confession video, which rather shows as if they were shooting a film.

"Pakistan is again up to its gimmicks. It has released a so-called confession video of Kulbhushan Jadhav. Even a small child who will see this video will be able to make out that it is a doctored video because one can clearly see the marks on Jadhav's face which shows that he has been tortured to say this. Secondly, this is an entire ISI propaganda that they are running through Kulbhushan Jadhav's mouth," Shivali told ANI.

Shivali declared that Pakistan should understand that if they kept playing these gimmicks then India will retaliate very strongly.

Similary, Sunil Deshpande said that such an action by Pakistan shows its desperateness to carry out the process, even when the International Court of Justice has instructed not to take any action in the same till it comes up with final decision.

"It can be clearly made put that the video is doctored. When you see the video, you can make out how much Kulbhushan Jadhav must have been tortured which can be made out from his face. Even at the ICJ, they had refused to see the video because they knew it was doctored. But, this is the second video. Now, when the case is pending with the ICJ and the International Court has clearly said that no action can be taken then how can Pakistan show this video to the entire world. This shows that they are in a hurry to carry out the process," Sunil Deshpande told ANI.

India moved the International Court of Justice (ICJ) against the death penalty handed down to Jadhav on May 8.

In a hearing of the case on May 18, a 10-member bench of the ICJ restrained Pakistan from executing Jadhav.

Pakistan claims its security forces arrested Jadhav from its restive Balochistan province on March 3 in 2016 after he reportedly entered from Iran. However, India maintains that he was kidnapped from Iran where he had business interests after retiring from the Indian Navy.

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This article exists as part of the online archive for HuffPost India, which closed in 2020. Some features are no longer enabled. If you have questions or concerns about this article, please contact indiasupport@huffpost.com.