Kulbhushan Jadhav Case: Pak govt presents ordinance in National Assembly

Islamabad: The Pakistan government on Monday presented an ordinance in the National Assembly in view of the International Court of Justice’s ruling in the case of Indian death-row prisoner Kulbhushan Jadhav, despite protests by the Opposition parties.

Under the ‘International Court of Justice Review and Reconsideration Ordinance 2020’, which was enacted on May 20, a petition for the review of a military court”s decision can be made to Islamabad High Court through an application within 60 days of its promulgation.

Jadhav, the 50-year-old retired Indian Navy officer, was sentenced to death by a Pakistani military court on charges of espionage and terrorism in April 2017. India approached the ICJ against Pakistan for denial of consular access to Jadhav and challenging the death sentence.

The Hague-based ICJ ruled in July 2019 that Pakistan must undertake an “effective review and reconsideration” of the conviction and sentence of Jadhav and also to grant consular access to India without further delay.

Under the law, the ordinance should be presented in Parliament. The Prime Minister’s Advisor on Parliamentary Affairs, Babar Awan, placed the ordinance before the lower house, Geo TV reported.

Last week, a similar effort was foiled by Opposition parties – Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Pakistan People-s Party (PPP) – which staged a walkout by pointing out lack of quorum to transact any business in the house.

Law Minister Farogh Naseem on Friday asked the Opposition parties to ‘avoid politics’ on the issue and warned them that India would take the matter to the UN Security Council if the ICJ verdict was not implemented.

In a unilateral move, Pakistan last week filed a petition in the Islamabad High Court, seeking appointment of a “legal representative” for Jadhav.

However, the main parties, including the government of India, were not consulted ahead of the filing of the application by the Ministry of Law and Justice under the ordinance.

In New Delhi, External affairs ministry spokesperson Anurag Srivastava on Thursday said Pakistan has once again exposed its “farcical” approach by denying available legal remedies to Jadhav against his death sentence which is also in contravention of the ICJ verdict, and asserted that it will explore further options in the case.

Srivastava said Pakistan has blocked all the avenues for an effective remedy available to India in the case, while noting that New Delhi has so far requested consular access to Jadhav for 12 times over the past one year.

“The whole exercise of not providing documents related to the case even after repeated requests, not providing unimpeded consular access and some reported unilateral action of approaching the High Court on part of Pakistan again exposes the farcical nature of Pakistan’s approach,” he said.

The MEA spokesperson said Pakistan is not only in violation of the judgment of ICJ, but also of its own ordinance.