Kulbhushan Jadhav doesn’t have right to appeal: Pak govt tells SC
Defence Ministry counsel tells SC that ICJ in 2019 while giving consular access to Jha made no mention about the right to appeal in higher court
Indian citizen Kulbhushan Jadhav, incarcerated in Pakistan on charges of espionage, was reportedly granted consular access following an International Court of Justice (ICJ) verdict in 2019, but was not allowed the right to appeal in a higher court as the ICJ judgment didn’t mention it.
May 2023 riots case
The statement was made by Pakistan’s Defence Ministry counsel Khawaja Haris Ahmed in the Supreme Court on Wednesday (April 16), according to a report by The Dawn.
Also read: Mufti Shah Mir, who helped ISI kidnap Kulbhushan Jadhav, shot dead
Pakistan’s Supreme Court was hearing a case involving Pakistani citizens convicted for their role in the May 9, 2023, riots following Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader and former prime minister Imran Khan’s arrest.
Jadhav’s case was mentioned before the bench in response to the Supreme Court’s earlier query on why the Indian national was given the right to appeal, but the same was not given to Pakistani citizens accused in the 2023 riots.
Special law enacted
During the hearing, Khawaja told the constitutional bench that at The Hague, it was claimed before the ICJ that Pakistan was breaching Article 36 of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations 1963 for not providing consular access to foreign nationals accused of spying.
Also read: Pak violated its obligations under Vienna Convention in Jadhav's case, says ICJ
After the hearing, Pakistan enacted the International Court of Justice (Review and Reconsideration) Act 2021, which allowed for the review and reconsideration of military court orders, including those concerning foreign nations, to comply with the terms of the Vienna Convention.
Khawaja said that the new legislation opened a “window to provide consular access to the Indian spy,” adding that it was a “unique jurisdiction.”
Who is Jadhav?
Captured in Balochistan in March 2016, Jadhav was sentenced to death by a Pakistani military court in 2017 on charges of espionage. Pakistan claims Jadhav has confessed to being an Indian spy and of being involved in espionage and terrorist activities in that country.
India has rejected Pakistan’s allegations and has said that Jadhav, a retired officer of the Indian Navy, was abducted from the Iranian port of Chabahar when he was there for business.
Also read: Kulbhushan Jadhav, an Indian spy or an innocent victim?
ICJ ruling
In its ruling in June 2019, the ICJ had said Jadhav must have consular access and asked Pakistan to reconsider the conviction and death sentence.
"Court finds that Pakistan deprived India of the right to communicate with and have access to Kulbhushan Jadhav, to visit him in detention and to arrange for his legal representation and thereby breached obligations incumbent upon it under Vienna Convention on Consular Relations,” the ICJ had said.
Also read: ISI trapped Jadhav after he became 'a big fat Indian catch', says new book on spies
In July 2020, India had accused Pakistan of not implementing the ICJ ruling in “letter and spirit”.