Pakistan army confirms Kulbhushan Jadhav has filed mercy petition to Army Chief.
Kulbhushan Jadhav, the Indian national sentenced to death by a military court in Pakistan, has filed a mercy petition to the Chief of Army Staff Qamar Javed Bajwa, the Pakistan Army announced on Thursday, claiming that Mr Jadhav had "expressed remorse" at the loss of precious innocent lives "due to his actions".
Pakistan has also released what it called was Kulbhushan Jadhav's second confessional video; this one was said to have been recorded in April 2017.
In a statement on his mercy petition, Pakistan Army said he had sought confessed to espionage and terror activities, asked for "forgiveness for his actions" and requested the Army Chief to "spare his life on compassionate grounds".
A Pakistan military court had in February sentenced Kulbhushan Jadhav to death after a summary trial that India had called "farcical". He had filed an appeal against the death verdict to a military appellate court but this was rejected, Major General Asif Gafoor said in statement released on social media sites, Twitter and Facebook.
A petition to the General Bajwa is the first of the two mercy plea that he is allowed to file under Pakistani law. If this one is rejected, he can file another to President Mamnoon Hussain.
The International Court of Justice had ordered Pakistan to hold off Kulbhushan Jadhav's execution in May after India complained to the United Nations top legal body that the charges against him were "concocted" and his trial, "farcical". India's case is grounded in Pakistan's refusal to give Indian officials consular access to him. India has insisted that he was kidnapped from Iran last year and framed.