The Pakistan government on Monday introduced an ordinance in the National Assembly in spite of opposition from opposition parties in view of the decision of the international court in the case of Indian prisoner Kulbhushan Jadhav. A petition for review of the decision of the military court under the ‘International Court of Review and Reconsideration Ordinance 2020’, enacted on 20 May, can be filed in Islamabad High Court within 60 days of the issuance of the ordinance.
Jadhav, a 50-year-old retired Indian Navy officer, was sentenced to death by a Pakistani military court in April 2017 on charges of espionage and terrorism. India had approached the ICJ against Pakistan for denying diplomatic access to Jadhav and challenging the death penalty.
The Hague-based ICJ ruled in July 2019 that Pakistan should effectively review and reconsider Jadhav’s sentence and also provide diplomatic access to India without further delay.
A similar effort was thwarted by the opposition parties Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) last week, and walked out, citing no quorum in the House. Law Minister F Nasim on Friday appealed to the opposition parties to ‘avoid politics’ on the issue and warned them that India would take the matter to the UN Security Council if the UN decision was not implemented.
