Kulbhushan Jadhav: Pak court gives more time, next hearing in Dec

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Monday gave more time to the lawyer from the Indian High Commission to get instructions from Kulbhushan Jadhav, the former Indian Navy officer on death row in Pakistan over espionage charges.

The new date for hearing has been set for December 1 as the court observed that proceedings can only take place if the Indian side cooperates.

India had maintained that Pakistan should address the core issues pertaining to the case.

“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 had said last month.

“These core issues need to be addressed if we have to have an effective review and reconsideration as ordered by the International Court of Justice (ICJ). I think Pakistan must show its intention to deliver on these core issues,” he said.

Attorney General of Pakistan Khalid Jawed Khan told the court on Monday that the government was “taking all measures” to ensure implementation of the decision of ICJ but that India deliberately “did not want to be part of the court proceedings.”

The government had offered counsellor access to India through its high commission to Jadhav for the third time, he added.

The attorney general said the Indian High Commission had approached the court in another case pertaining to its prisoners, but it was not cooperating with the court in the Jadhav case.

The other petition of the High Commission was fixed for hearing on the same day, he informed the court, and said India could become a party in the Jadhav case through its counsel.

IHC Chief Justice Athar Minallah observed that the cooperation of the Indian government was necessary for implementation of the ICJ decision, adding that it could approach the court if it had reservations.

Indian High Commission’s lawyer Shahnawaz Noon appeared before the court in another case pertaining to prisoner Jaspal and told the court that he had been instructed to get some documents from the attorney general’s office but he had been refused. To this, the IHC chief justice said the lawyer should have approached the court if he could not get documents.

On the query of the bench pertaining to Kulbhushan Jadhav case and consular access, the Indian High Commission’s lawyer said he would inform the court after taking instructions from his client. He requested the court to grant one-week time which was accepted by the bench.

The bench adjourned the hearing in the case till December 1.