New law offers no relief to Indian spy: Minister
islamabad — Minister for Law and Justice Farogh Naseem on Friday urged the opposition to let the government pass the ICJ review and reconsideration ordinance-2020 which is aimed at giving consular access to Indian spy Kulbhushan Jadhav because it was made obligatory by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in its judgement.
Speaking on the floor of the National Assembly, he said that the ordinance had been prepared so that Pakistan could meet its international obligations as a responsible state.
Naseem said the ordinance was needed to follow the International Court of Justice (ICJ) judgement regarding Kulbushan Jadhav so India could be stopped from approaching the United Nations Security Council.
The minister said the ICJ decided that Pakistan would have to grant (Jadhav) consular access and review and reconsider the case.
“It placed an obligation on Pakistan. Paragraphs 144-148 of the judgement showed that ICJ placed the obligation on the country to enact a law for effective review and reconsideration (of the case).”
He said that was why an ordinance was framed and promulgated. He denied that it was similar to the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO). “An NRO is what Gen Musharraf promulgated to forgive sentences and suspend pending proceedings. We have to follow the ICJ’s decision as a responsible state.”
Naseem said that India “wanted that Pakistan not follow the ICJ judgement so that they could approach the UNSC for bringing all kinds of resolutions, sanctions and declare Pakistan a rogue state”.
Earlier, the National Assembly witnessed a heated debate during which the opposition accused the government of trying to give concessions to Jadhav.
The opposition blamed the government for trying to get a rubber stamp from parliament on “facilitating a terrorist, who had confessed to his role in promoting unrest and terrorism in Pakistan”.
“A terrorist who has confessed
to be involved in terrorism in our country, against whom we have completed legal proceedings — what has happened now that we are formally legislating to facilitate him?” asked Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Khawaja Asif.
“When we (PML-N) were in the government, Kulbushan was a slur used against us. It was said that Nawaz Sharif and PML-N were appeasing India. Who is appeasing India today?”
Lashing out at the government, Asif sought to remind them of the “taunts” the PML-N government faced from the then opposition party of Imran Khan. “We were taunted, now this government and this prime minister must tell us why he is stooping so low in front of India?” he said. —
When we (PML-N) were in the government, Kulbushan was a slur used against us. It was said that Sharif and PML-N were appeasing India. Who is appeasing India today? Khawaja Asif
PML-N leader