New ordinance in Pak Parliament
nISLAMABAD: The Pakistani government on Monday presented in Parliament an ordinance that gave foreign citizens convicted in the country the right to file a review petition in courts.
The ordinance — International Court of Justice Review and Reconsideration Ordinance 2020, first enacted on May 20 — was aimed at complying with the International Court of Justice’s (ICJ) order for effective review and reconsideration of Kulbhushan Jadhav’s conviction and sentencing by a Pakistani military court in 2017.
The Prime Minister’s adviser on parliamentary affairs, Babar Awan, placed the ordinance before the lower house, Geo TV reported, triggering loud protests from the Opposition.
The government defended the ordinance, insisting that they were bound by ICJ ruling in July 2019 that ordered Pakistan to provide consular access to Jadhav and review his death sentence.
Monday’s developments come in the backdrop of repeated allegations by India that Pakistan has blocked all avenues for an effective review of the case.
In a briefing last Thursday, the external affairs ministry charged Islamabad with systematically blocking access to the former naval officer, not providing documents related to his case and violating the ICJ’S order for a review of his conviction.
“Pakistan has completely failed to provide the remedy as directed by the ICJ and India reserves its position in the matter, including its rights to avail of further remedies,” external affairs ministry spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said.
India said Pakistan created confusion over the last date for filing a review petition, initially saying it was July 19 before changing the date to July 20. Pakistan took two weeks to inform India about the ordinance and shared the copy of it only after a request from New Delhi.
In the absence of unhindered consular access to Jadhav and the documents, the Indian side tried, as a last resort, to file a review petition in Islamabad high court on July 18.
“However, our Pakistani lawyer [said] that a review petition could not be filed in the absence of power of attorney and supporting documents related to the case of Jadhav,” said Srivastava.