ISLAMABAD: Accepting the plea of federation for more time to appoint counsel for Indian spy Kulbhushan Jhadav on Tuesday the Islamabad High Court adjourned hearing of the matter till October 5.
A three-member Bench of the Islamabad High Court (IHC), comprising Chief Justice Athar Minallah, Justice Aamer Farooq and Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb resumed hearing of the Ministry of Law and Justice seeking appointment of a lawyer for Jadhav.
The Attorney General for Pakistan Khalid Jawed Khan appeared before the bench and requested for more time to deliberate over the issue of appointing counsel for the accused person. During last hearing in the matter, Attorney General for Pakistan Khalid Jawed Khan has apprised the bench that to comply with the ruling of the International Court of Justice (ICJ), Pakistan last year promulgated the law, CJ (Review and Reconsideration) Ordinance, 2020, to enable Jadhav to avail himself of the statutory remedy. He also submitted that the Indian government deliberately avoided joining court’s proceedings and was raising objections to a trial before a Pakistani court and had declined to even appoint a counsel for the IHC’s proceedings saying it “is tantamount to surrendering sovereign rights”.
Jawed further said that the Indian government has objected, not for non-implementation of ICJ’s verdict but to engineer default on the basis of which it would [try to] justify going to the ICJ again. However, the Chief Justice has observed that the Indian High Commission in Islamabad had approached the IHC seeking the release of five prisoners and had secured a decision in their favour, questioning the legitimacy of the same court. He observed that despite negative remarks of the Indian government about Pakistani courts, the IHC was considering the Jadhav case on humanitarian grounds to ensure a fair trial for him.
“We are not against sovereign immunity of the Indian government but they should at least tell us how we would proceed to implement the ICJ’s decision,” the Chief Justice remarked. Later the court asked Khalid Jawed to take up the matter with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for its onward communication with the Indian authorities.
On Tuesday, the bench accepted the federation plea and adjourned the hearing till October 5.
