ISLAMABAD HC FORMS SPECIAL BENCH TO HEAR JADHAV’S CASE

ISLAMABAD/NEW DELHI: A special bench of a Pakistani court is set to take up the case of Kulbhushan Jadhav, the former Indian Navy officer sentenced to death for alleged involvement in spying, even as New Delhi said on Thursday that Islamabad had blocked all its efforts to seek remedies in the case.

A special bench of the Islamabad high court headed by chief justice Athar Minallah will hear Jadhav’s case from August 3, Pakistan’s Geo News channel reported. A lawyer will also be appointed to represent Jadhav on Monday, it added.

The Pakistani government this week tabled the International Court of Justice (Review and Reconsideration) Ordinance, 2020, in Parliament for approval. The ordinance was promulgated to allow Jadhav, 50, to appeal against the death sentence given to him by a military court in 2017.

In New Delhi, external affairs ministry spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said Pakistan had systematically blocked all of India’s attempts to seek remedies for Jadhav. “Their actions expose the farcical nature of their approach,” he said.