Pak’s Parliament approves Bill to grant Kulbhushan Jadhav right to appeal

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, November 17

The Pakistan Parliament on Wednesday approved a Bill to grant Kulbhushan Jadhav the right to appeal as per the decision of the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

In a tense atmosphere with visitors curtailed from entering the complex, Pakistan Parliament passed three Bills, including the use of EVMs, the Second Election Amendment Bill 2021, and the Kulbhushan Jadhav Bill. Pakistan Law and Justice Minister Farogh Naseem introduced the Bill.

While piloting the Bill through the Lower House on June 10, Naseem said had the Bill not been passed, India would have gone to the UN Security Council and could have moved contempt proceedings against Pakistan in the ICJ.

India was not impressed by the Bill at that time, pointing out that the ICJ verdict should be complied with in letter and spirit by permitting a free conversation between Jadhav and Indian diplomats based in Pakistan. India also wants an Indian lawyer to represent which is now allowed under Pakistani law.

In July last year, Indian diplomats had walked out of the meeting with Jadhav after aggressive Pakistani officials were stationed next to Jadhav and a camera had been fixed to purportedly record the meeting. India has already requested Pakistan over a dozen times for “unimpeded, unhindered and unconditional consular access’’ to Jadhav, on the death row since 2017.

The Bill gives effect to the Ordinance tabled last year in 2020.

The 51-year-old Kulbhushan Jadhav, a retired Navy officer, was sentenced to death by a Pakistani military court on charges of espionage and terrorism in 2017. India had then approached the ICJ against Pakistan for denial of consular access to Jadhav and challenging the death sentence.

In a victory for India in 2019, the ICJ had ruled Pakistan must undertake an “effective review and reconsideration’’ of the conviction and sentence of Jadhav which also included immediate consular access. 

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