Pakistan Court forms Special Bench to hear Kulbhushan Jadhav Case

A special bench of a Pakistani Court is set to take up the case of Kulbhushan Jadhav, the Ex-Indian Navy officer sentenced to death for alleged involvement in spying, even as New Delhi said on Thursday that Islamabad has blocked all its efforts to seek remedies in the case.

A special bench of the High Court of Islamabad headed by Chief Justice Athar Minallah will hear Jadhav’s case from Aug 3, Pakistan’s Geo News channel reported. A lawyer will also be appointed to represent Jadhav on Monday, it added.

The Pakistani Govt this week tabled the International Court of Justice (Review & Reconsideration) Ordinance, 2020, in Parliament for approval. The ordinance was promulgated to allow Jadhav, 50, to appeal the death sentence given to him by a military court in 2017.

In New Delhi, External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Anurag Srivastava told a virtual weekly news briefing that Pakistan has systematically blocked all of India’s attempts to seek remedies for Jadhav.

He accused Pakistan of violating the 2019 judgement of the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which called for an effective review & reconsideration of the conviction & sentencing of Jadhav, & its own ordinance.

Pakistan, Srivastava said, has not provided unhindered, unimpeded & unconditional access to Jadhav or the official documents requested by India. “Their actions expose the farcical nature of their approach to this issue,” he said.

Srivastav said that “We reserve our position in this matter, which includes the right to avail further remedies. I’ll also reiterate that we stand committed to protect the life of our national Kulbhushan Jadhav".

The Pakistani Govt petitioned the Islamabad HC on July 22 to appoint a counsel to represent Jadhav for filing a review petition against his sentence. The defence secretary & the Judge Advocate General branch of the military were made parties to the plea filed by the law ministry.

The plea contended Jadhav had refused to file a review petition against his sentence & that India was reluctant to avail of the remedies under the ordinance.

India has dismissed these contentions & said that a Pakistani lawyer appointed by it was unable to file a review petition on July 18 as he was not provided necessary documents by Pakistani authorities. Indian officials walked out of a meeting with Jadhav on July 16 after Pakistan breached assurances of providing unimpeded consular access.

Jadhav was arrested by Pakistani security agencies in Balochistan in March 2016 & charged with involvement in spying. India rejected the allegations & said he was kidnapped by Pakistani operatives from the Iranian port of Chabahar, where he was running a business. The ICJ ruled that Pakistan violated Jadhav’s rights under the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations & stayed his execution. 

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