Bill to review Jadhav’s conviction approved
Pakistan’s parliamentary standing committee on law and justice has cleared a government bill to facilitate a review of the conviction of former Indian Navy officer Kulbhushan Jadhav, sentenced to death by a military court for alleged involvement in spying.
Law minister Farogh Naseem told the committee that the bill – titled the International Court of Justice (Review and Reconsideration) Ordinance – was introduced to comply with the directives of the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which had stayed Jadhav’s execution and asked Pakistan to review his conviction and sentencing.
If the bill isn’t adopted by Parliament, Pakistan could face sanctions for not complying with the ICJ’S ruling, Naseem said during the committee’s deliberations on Wednesday.
Eight members of the committee voted for the bill and five opposed it.
Naseem said his ministry had sought to pre-empt a possible Indian move to file a contempt petition against Pakistan in the ICJ by promulgating the ordinance, and clarified that neither India nor Jadhav had yet filed a petition in the Islamabad high court to seek a review in line with the ICJ’S verdict.
He added the law ministry is yet to file a petition for appointing a lawyer to represent Jadhav in the HC.
India and Pakistan are embroiled in a row over legal representation for Jadhav and the issue of consular access. New Delhi has said it should be allowed to appoint an Indian lawyer or a Queen’s Counsel to represent Jadhav, but Islamabad has insisted that he can only be represented by a Pakistani lawyer or one eligible to practice in the country.
India has also accused Pakistan of failing to provide unimpeded access to Jadhav.
Jadhav was arrested in March 2016 in Balochistan on charges of espionage, and sentenced to death by a military court the following year. India has rubbished the charges levelled against Jadhav and said he was kidnapped by Pakistani operatives from the Iranian port of Chabahar, where he was running a business.
The ICJ stayed Jadhav’s execution in 2018.
“We have said on a number of occasions that Pakistan has failed to respond on core issues pertaining to this case, and the core issues are provision of all documents related to the case and providing unimpeded, unconditional and unhindered consular access to Kulbhushan Jadhav,” external affairs ministry spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said recently.
Members of Pakistan’s opposition parties criticised Naseem’s move, which they said would give relief to Jadhav. They called the bill an “NRO” (National Reconciliation Ordinance) for an Indian spy – a reference to legal protection introduced by former dictator Pervez Musharraf to give relief to politicians against whom charges were filed during his military rule.
In response to this criticism, Naseem told the parliamentary panel that India was looking for every excuse to file a contempt plea against Pakistan in the ICJ. In such a scenario, the country could face sanctions if the matter is referred to the UN Security Council, he said.