ISLAMABAD-A larger bench of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) will Thursday (today) resume hearing of the government’s plea seeking the appointment of a legal representative for Indian spy Kulbhushan Jadhav. 
The special larger bench of IHC comprising Chief Justice of IHC Justice Athar Minallah, Justice Aamer Farooq and Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb will conduct hearing of the government’s plea in which the bench had previously asked the federal government to offer India and convicted Indian spy Commander Kulbhushan Jadhav another opportunity to appoint a lawyer for filing his review petition against his death sentence.
However, the court officials have told that the Indian Consulate has not submitted any reply in response to the offer to India for appointment of a lawyer for filing his review petition against his death sentence.
The court would resume its proceedings of this case at 02:00 p.m. on Thursday (today).
In this matter, the IHC bench had also appointed Abid Hassan Manto, Hamid Khan, Senior Advocates of the Supreme Court and former Presidents of the Supreme Court Bar Association and Makhdoom Ali Khan, Senior Advocate Supreme Court and former Attorney General of Pakistan as amici curiae for the legal assistance in general and, in particular, to ensure that the judgment of the International Court is effectively implemented.
After the last hearing of the petition, the IHC bench had noted in its order, “The Government of Pakistan shall once again inform Commander Jadhav regarding his rights under Article 36 of the Convention and the judgment of the International Court will also be brought to his attention. He shall be specifically informed regarding his right to avail the statutory remedy provided under the Ordinance of 2020 and to authorise the Government of India to arrange legal representation on his behalf.
It added, “The Government of Pakistan shall communicate this order to the Government of India. Subject to the applicable laws, the latter shall be at liberty to make appropriate arrangements on behalf of Commander Jadhav in the context of the Convention, read with the statutory right made available under the Ordinance of 2020, so as to give effect to the judgment of the International Court.”
The Attorney General had stated before the court that Commander Jadhav and the Government of India were informed regarding the promulgation of the Ordinance of 2020 but they have not shown willingness to avail the statutory remedy, which has been specifically made available to fulfil the requirements set forth by the International Court in its judgment. He further stated that the Government of India had informed that it had engaged a counsel but the latter was not given a power of attorney so that necessary documents could be handed over to him.
The AG maintained that since the time prescribed for availing the statutory remedy was expiring, therefore, this petition was filed in order to give effect to the judgment of the International Court. He asserted that the Government of India was requested to avail the statutory remedy but the latter has not demonstrated a bonafide serious intent in this regard.