ISLAMABAD - Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Tuesday granted India more time to assist the court about Pakistan government’s plea seeking the appointment of a legal representative for Indian spy Kulbhushan Jadhav for filing his review petition against his death sentence.
The special larger bench of IHC comprising Chief Justice of IHC Justice Athar Minallah, Justice Aamer Farooq and Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb conducted hearing of the government’s plea seeking appointment of a legal representative for Indian spy Kulbhushan Jadhav for filing his review petition against his death sentence.
During the hearing, Attorney General for Pakistan (AGP) Khalid Javed Khan and court’s amici curiae Advocate Hamid Khan appeared before the court. Khan said that the court had passed an order on May 5 regarding making one more effort for the appointment of a counsel.
The AGO informed the bench that India was conveyed the message as per the court’s order but there has been no response in this regard so far. He said that India wanted consular access to Jadhav in a separate room, but that cannot be granted by any country.
He maintained that authorities could not leave Kulbhushan alone with Indian representatives because they can cause harm to him even by just shaking hands with him.
The AGP said that Pakista government wanted complete implementation on the decision of review and reconsideration of the International Court of Justice (ICJ), but India intentionally did not want it.
He said that it was in this situation that the federal government has requested for the appointment of a counsel. Khan continued that India wants to appoint a counsel from outside but our law does not allow this.
The IHC Chief Justice observed that Pakistan wanted to implement the ICJ decision, but India did not have an interest in it. He asked that would it not be better to give them another opportunity so they could put forth their reservations before the court.
The bench asked the AGP to convey the message of the court to the Indian government and the spy. It said that another reminder should be sent to Kulbhushan and the Indian government. If India has any reservations, it may convey them here, or someone from the Indian embassy in Pakistan may convey them. That might bring forth a solution.
Later, the court deferred the hearing of the case for an indefinite period.
In this matter, the federal government filed the petition regarding the death sentence of convicted Indian spy, Kulbhushan Jadhav, to implement the International Court of Justice’s (ICJ) decision to meet the requirements of a fair trial.
The Ministry of Law and Justice requested the court for appointment of legal representative for Kulbhushan Jadhav, an Indian spy and agent of Indian intelligence agency Research and Analysis Wing (RAW,) so that he could file a review petition against his death sentence.
The government took the decision as the Indian spy has refused to file a review appeal against his death sentence. The Indian government has also refused to take advantage of Pakistan’s review appeal facility.
The petition stated that the IHC should appoint a counsel to review and reconsider the verdict of the military court in accordance with the decision of the ICJ. The Ministry cited Judge Advocate General (JAG) branch of General Headquarters (GHQ) and the Ministry of Defense as respondents.
