India rubbishes confession video of arrested spy in Pakistan

New Delhi, Mar 30: India on Tuesday slammed Pakistan for not giving its diplomats consular access to former Indian Navy officer Kul Bhushan Yadav, accused of fomenting terrorism in Pakistani soil.

New Delhi also dismissed a video released by Pakistan in which Yadav confesses to working for India’s external intelligence agency the Research and Analysis Wing (R & AW) and was assigned to foment insurgency in Balochistan.

Ministry of External Affairs has said Yadav was running a legitimate business in Iran and could have possibly been abducted from the neighbouring country.

“We have seen a video released by Pakistani authorities of a former Indian Navy officer, doing business in Iran, who is in Pakistani custody under unexplained circumstances. The video has this individual making statements, which have no basis in fact,” Vikas Swarup, official spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs, stated in New Delhi.

“That the individual claims to make the statements of his own free will not only challenges credulity but clearly indicates tutoring,” he added.

“It is also relevant to note here that despite our request, we have not been given consular access to an Indian national under detention in a foreign country, as is the accepted international practice. We are naturally concerned about his well-being in these circumstances,” said Swarup.

New Delhi’s statement came after Pakistan’s top military spokesman Lt Gen Asim Bajwa on Tuesday claimed Yadav was a serving Indian Navy officer who converted to Islam and had been working for R & AW to “foment terrorism” in Balochistan and Karachi.

“Kul Bhoshan (Bhushan) Yadav is a serving Indian naval officer whose primary mission was to foment terrorism in Karachi and Balochistan,” Bajwa was quoted by PTI.

"He converted to Islam and worked at Gadani under the cover of a scrap dealer,” Bajwa said in a joint press conference with Pakistani Information Minister Pervez Rashid.

The press-conference started with a video of Yadav saying he still serves Indian Navy and would retire in 2022.

He began working as an intelligence agent after the 2001 attack on Indian Parliament and set up a business in Iran that provided him cover for frequent visits to Pakistan before commissioned by R & AW in 2013, Yadav was shown to be saying in the video.

He also says he was caught while crossing over to Pakistan from Iran on March 3.