Islamabad: Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Tuesday has extended the time for appointment of legal representative for Indian spy and agent of intelligence agency Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) Kulbhushan Jadhav till January 14.
According to details, the court has taken the decision on the request of Indian High Commission and adjourned the hearing.
Earlier, attorney general had told the court that Indian government was intentionally not hiring a lawyer for the spy. Now the only choice left was that Pakistani government should provide him a legal representative, he added.
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.
Judge Abdulqavi Ahmed Yousaf, the judge who announced the verdict, told Pakistan to review the death sentence of a suspected Indian spy, saying Islamabad violated his consular access rights .
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 Hague court ordered the “effective review and reconsideration of the conviction and sentence of Kulbhushan Sudhir Jadhav”.
The judge pointed out that Pakistan and India are signatories to 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.
When the court found that Jadhav was guilty of terrorist activities in Pakistan, it ordered that Indian spies not be transferred to India. It ruled that Kurbushan will continue to be detained by Pakistan.
A Pakistan team led by the Minister of Justice attended the court. The team also included Dr. Mohamed Faisal, the spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs at the time.
The government arrested Jadhav alias Hussein Mubarak Patel in Balochistan on charges of terrorism and surveillance of the Indian intelligence agency “Research and Analysis Department” (RAW) .
The government stated that he was the active commander of the Indian Navy, had engaged in subversive activities in Pakistan, and was arrested in a counterintelligence operation in Mashkel, Baluchistan province on March 3, 2016. The Indian government recognized Jadhav as a former naval officer, but denied any current connection with Jadhav and insisted that he had retired prematurely and was kidnapped by Iran.
On March 25, 2016, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) released the confessional statement of Jadhav where he claimed to be a serving Indian Navy officer.
“By 2002, I commenced intelligence operations. In 2003, I established a small business in Chabahar in Iran,” he admitted. “As I was able to achieve undetected existence and visits to Karachi in 2003 and 2004. Having done some basic assignments within India for RAW, I was picked up by RAW in 2013 end”.
He said his purpose was to meet with the Baluchist rebels and carry out “cooperation activities with them.”
On April 8, 2017, ISPR submitted his first intelligence report (FIR), and on April 11, 2017, Army Chief of Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa confirmed Jadhav’s death sentence, which had passed Field General Court Military Tribunal (FGCM). He was tried under Section 59 of the Pakistan Army Act (PAA) of 1952 and Section III of the Official Secrets Act of 1923.
FGCM found Kulbushan SudhirYadhav guilty of all the charges. He confessed before a Magistrate and the Court that he was tasked by RAW to plan, coordinate and organize espionage and sabotage activities aiming to destabilize and wage war against Pakistan by impeding the efforts of Law Enforcement Agencies for restoring peace in Balochistan and Karachi.
On May 8, 2017, India approached the ICJ against Pakistan for denying consular access to Jadhav.
On May 18, 2017, the ICJ stayed the execution pending the final judgment on the case and even on July 13, 2018, ICJ stayed Kulbhushan Jadhav’s execution in Pakistan.
On June 22, 2017, Jadhav gave a second confessional statement where he confessed to carrying out subversive activities in Balochistan.
On Feb 22, 2019, ICJ reserved its judgment in Jadhav case whereas they are going to rule the verdict today on July 17, 2019.
