Islamabad High Court (IHC) will take up a case pertaining to appointment of defence counsel for spy and agent of intelligence agency Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) Kulbhushan Jadhav today.
A larger bench of the high court comprising Chief Justice Athar Minallah, Justice Amir Farooq, and Justice Mian Gull Hassan Aurangzeb will hear the case.
The IHC has received no reply from the Indian Embassy in Islamabad as yet, nor has anyone submitted power of attorney on its behalf.
According to reports, Foreign Office has sent a letter to the Indian High Commission on the orders of the IHC. Pakistan said that it was not legally possible to allow a lawyer from India to represent Kulbhushan in Pakistani court.
On July 17, 2019, the ICJ had rejected remedies sought by India, including annulment of military court decision convicting Kulbhushan Jadhav, his release and safe passage to India.
Announcing the verdict Judge Abdulqavi Ahmed Yousaf told Pakistan to review the death sentence for an alleged Indian spy, saying Islamabad violated his rights to consular visits.
The court, in its verdict, rejected a number of Indian demands including annulment of military court decision convicting Jadhav, his release and safe passage to India.
The ICJ found that Pakistan deprived India of the right to communicate with and have access to Kulbhushan Jadhav, to visit him in detention and to arrange for his legal representation, and thereby breached obligations incumbent upon it under Vienna Convention on Consular Relations.
The tribunal in The Hague ordered an "effective review and reconsideration of the conviction and sentence of Kulbhushan Sudhir Jadhav".
The judge remarked that Pakistan and India are signatories of the Vienna Convention.
"A continued stay of execution constitutes an indispensable condition for the effective review and reconsideration of the conviction and sentence of Mr Kulbhushan Sudhir Jadhav," it ruled.
The court while finding Jadhav guilty of committing terrorist activities inside Pakistan, ordered that the Indian spy cannot be handed over to India. Kulbhushan will remain in Pakistan’s custody, it ruled.
Pakistani team headed by the attorney general was present in the courtroom. The team also included then Foreign Office Spokesperson Dr Muhammad Faisal.
