India appointed Pak lawyer for Kulbhushan Jadhav, was declined case documents

Highlighting the "farcical nature of Pakistan’s approach" in Kulbhushan Jadhav review and reconsideration case, India on Thursday said that it had appointed a Pakistani lawyer for the case but Islamabad declined to give required case documents.

The Minister of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Anurag Shrivastava, in response to a question on India's stance on the case, said, "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 hand over the documents to the lawyer."

Islamabad in May had come with an Ordinance for review and reconsideration of Jadhav case to implement the International Court of Justice's (ICJ) judgement last year in which India got a major diplomatic victory. Under the Ordinance, a review petition can be filed in the case within two months.

India was keen to file a review petition and had "repeatedly requested Pakistan for relevant documents". Islamabad had advised India that the relevant documents could be handed over only to an "authorised Pakistani lawyer."

India tried to file a petition on July 18, days before the Ordinance was to lapse but India's Pakistani lawyer was "informed that a review petition could not be filed in the absence of power of attorney and supporting documents" related to the case.

Calling the developments as a violation of the judgment of ICJ, but also of its own Ordinance, the MEA spokesman said, "Pakistan has completely failed to provide the remedy as directed by the ICJ and India reserves its position in the matter, including its rights to avail of further remedies" and New Delhi sees Ordinance as "Pakistan's non-serious in its approach" blocking "all the avenues for an effective remedy available for India."

India had shared its "concerns" regarding the Ordinance "including a considerable delay in informing India about its promulgation, with the Pakistan authorities." According to MEA, Pakistan took two weeks about the Ordinance and shared the copy of the Ordinance only after India requested for it. 

Last week Indian diplomats were invited for consular access for Jhadav and get but the "arrangements did not permit a free conversation" according to the ministry of external affairs statement of the same week. The 2 Indian diplomats also could not get his written consent for arranging his legal representation also. India has so far requested consular access twelve times over the past year.

The Pakistan government under the Ordinance first claimed Jhadav has refused to file a petition, then, on Wednesday filed a petition in Islamabad high court requesting the court to appoint a lawyer for the case.

The six-page petition said, "It is therefore prayed that in order to facilitate compliance with the Judgment of the International court of justice ICJ, this hon'ble court may be pleased to appoint any suitable advocate practising before this court to file a petition for review and reconsideration of the conviction & sentence" of Kulbhushan under the ordinance.

The ICJ, in response to a WION question whether the Indian or Pakistani government has approached it on the 2019 Judgement, said, "Judgment of the Court, which is binding, final and without appeal".

Speculations are being made that India might go to the UN court back after non-implementation of 2019 judgement by Pakistan.

While India says Jadhav, an Indian National, was abducted from Iran, Pakistan claims he is a spy. He was sentenced Pakistani military court in 2017 with India going to ICJ and able to get a stay on the order.