ISLAMABAD - The federal government Wednesday filed a petition in the Islamabad High Court (IHC) regarding the death sentence of convicted Indian spy, Kulbhushan Jadhav, to implement the decision of International Court of Justice to meet the requirements of a fair trial.

The Ministry of Law and Justice moved the petition and requested the court for the appointment of a legal representative for Kulbhushan Jadhav, an Indian spy and agent of Indian intelligence agency RAW, so that he can file a review petition for his death sentence.

The government took the decision as the Indian spy has earlier 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.

It further stated that Jadhav had refused to file a review petition or an application to reconsider the verdict. It added that he did not have independent sources to hire a counsel to represent him. The petition said that Kulbhushan, who was involved in several terrorist activities in
 Pakistan, refused to file plea against his sentence. The agent could not appoint lawyer in Pakistan without assistance from India.

On July 16, Pakistan offered India third consular access to Jadhav as the day before Indian diplomats had walked out of the meeting without hearing him.

In this regard, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi had said that Pakistan was willing to provide another consular access to India without the presence of security personnel.

In July 2019, the ICJ ruled that Pakistan must grant consular access to India without any delay and at the same time called for the “effective review and reconsideration” of the Jadhav’s case.

Commander Jadhav, who was arrested in March 2016 in a counter-intelligence operation from Balochistan, was sentenced to death by a military court a year later. His mercy petition had been pending before the army chief.