Staff Reporter
Islamabad
The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Thursday ordered the government to give India another chance appoint a defence counsel for spy, and agent of the intelligence agency Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), Kulbhushan Jadhav.
A larger bench of the high court heard the case. Attorney General told the court that to comply with orders of the international court, Pakistan granted counselor access to India; however, it has not replied to Pakistan’s offer to appoint lawyer for the Indian spy.
IHC, while ordering the government to send its order to India regarding Jadhav, adjourned the hearing till October 3. It is to be noted that 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. Government arrested Jadhav alias Hussein Mubarak Patel in the province of Balochistan on charges of terrorism and spying for India’s intelligence agency, the RAW.
