SOURCE: ENS
A week after Pakistan did not provide “unimpeded” consular access to former Indian Navy officer Kulbhushan Jadhav — who is on death row in Pakistan on charges of spying and terrorist activities — India on Thursday said Islamabad has “blocked all the avenues for an effective remedy” available for India.
As reported by The Indian Express, Pakistan on July 16 did not allow Indian diplomats to carry the “Power of Attorney” legal document that could be signed by Jadhav.
“Pakistan advised India that the relevant documents could be handed over only to an authorised Pakistani lawyer. Thereafter, India appointed a Pakistani lawyer to obtain the relevant documents. To our surprise, as advised by the Pakistani authorities, when the authorised Pakistani lawyer approached the concerned authorities, they declined to handover the documents to the lawyer,” Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said on Thursday.
“In the absence of an unimpeded and unhindered consular access as well as of the relevant documents, as a last resort, India tried to file a petition on 18 July. However, our Pakistani lawyer informed us that a review petition could not be filed in the absence of power of attorney and supporting documents related to Jadhav’s case,” the MEA spokesperson said.
He said Pakistan also created “confusion” over the last date of filing a petition.
Pakistan on May 20 passed an Ordinance to allow for a High Court to review the sentence awarded by their military court.
“Pakistan took two weeks to inform us about this Ordinance and shared the copy of the Ordinance only after India requested the same. India has conveyed that the Ordinance neither fulfils nor does it give complete weight to the judgment of the ICJ. With regards to the Ordinance, it seems, Pakistan was non-serious in its approach and was not interested in implementing the judgment of the ICJ in letter and spirit. It has blocked all the avenues for an effective remedy available for India,” Srivastava said.
In July last year, the ICJ had directed Pakistan to allow consular access to Jadhav and effectively review his death sentence.
