The Islamabad High Court was told on Tuesday that India’s BJP government is intentionally not appointing a lawyer for spy-terrorists Kulbhushan Jadhav.
A larger bench of the high court comprising Chief Justice Athar Minallah, Justice Amir Farooq and Justice Mian Gull Hassan Aurangzeb heard the case pertaining to appointment of legal representative for the Indian spy and RAW agent.
During the hearing, the attorney general told the court that the Indian government is not hiring a lawyer for the spy for some reason. Now the only choice left is that that Pakistani government should provide him a legal representative, he added.
The court also asked few questions from the attorney general for assistance on the matter and adjourned the hearing till November 9.
On the other hand, the Indian government has failed to hire a legal representative for Jadhav as deadline expired on Tuesday. Reports said Foreign Office had sent a letter to the Indian High Commission on the orders of the court.
On July 17, 2019, the ICJ had rejected remedies sought by India, including annulment of military court decision convicting Kulbhushan Jadhav, his release and safe passage to India.
Announcing the verdict Judge Abdulqavi Ahmed Yousaf told Pakistan to review the death sentence for an alleged Indian spy, saying Islamabad violated his rights to consular visits.
The court, in its verdict, rejected a number of Indian demands including annulment of military court decision convicting Jadhav, his release and safe passage to India.
The ICJ found 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 tribunal in The Hague ordered an "effective review and reconsideration of the conviction and sentence of Kulbhushan Jadhav".
The judge remarked that Pakistan and India are signatories of the Vienna Convention. "A continued stay of execution constitutes an indispensable condition for the effective review and reconsideration of the conviction and sentence of Mr Kulbhushan Sudhir Jadhav," it ruled.
The court while finding Jadhav guilty of committing terrorist activities inside Pakistan, ordered that the Indian spy cannot be handed over to India. Kulbhushan will remain in Pakistan’s custody, it ruled.