IHC grants India more time to appoint lawyer for Kulbhushan Jadhav

ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Saturday gave New Delhi more time to appoint a lawyer for Indian spy Kulbhushan Jadhav to ensure a fair trial. It will now take up the case on December 9.

A larger IHC bench comprising three members, including IHC Chief Justice Athar Minallah, Justice Aamer Farooq and Justice Mian Gul Hasan will hear the petition.

Former Indian navy commander Jadhav was arrested in March 2016 in Balochistan. He was convicted of planning espionage and sabotage and sentenced to death in 2017.

During the last hearing on October 5, the high court had provided India with another opportunity to arrange a lawyer for Jadhav, as per the International Court of Justice’s (ICJ) – also called The World Court – verdict regarding the Indian spy, to contest his conviction case.

Presenting a copy of the document the government had sent to India, Attorney General of Pakistan Khalid Javed relayed that India had given no response to Islamabad’s offer so far.

Javed maintained that Pakistan was keen to implement the ICJ’s decision about review petition and reconsideration of the judgement, but, India was trying to impede the court proceeding.

Who is Kulbhushan Jadhav?

Indian spy Jadhav is on death row in Pakistan for espionage and sabotage activities against the country. Jadhav was running a network of terrorists in Balochistan before he was arrested on March 3, 2016.

India had been claiming that the RAW agent, in fact, was kidnapped from Iran, where he was running a business after a “premature retirement” from the Indian Navy.

In 2017, India filed an appeal against Jadhav’s death penalty at the ICJ. In 2019, a 16-judge ICJ panel rejected Delhi’s request for the spy’s freedom and directed Pakistan to suspend the execution.

The World Court asked Pakistan to review the death penalty given to Jadhav, adding that a “continued stay of execution” of Jadhav was needed for that to happen.