'Pakistan coerced Kulbhushan Jadhav': India on Pakistan's claim he refused case review
New Delhi/IBNS: India on Wednesday termed Pakistan's claim that Indian national Kulbhushan Jadhav, sentenced to death by its military court, has refused review of his case and decided to appeal for mercy, as an attempt to mask its continuing reticence to implement ICJ judgment in letter and spirit.
Stating that Pakistan's statement that Jadhav does not want to initiate review petition is a continuation of the farce that has been in play for the last four years, the Ministry of External Affairs said he has clearly been coerced to refuse to file a review in his case.
In July 2019, the International Court of Justice ruling in favour of India, had directed Pakistan to review Jadhav's death sentence and keep it suspended meanwhile. The ICJ had also agreed that Pakistan had violated the Vienna convention by denying Jadhav consular access after convicting in a "farcical" closed trial.
An NDTV report said, Pakistan's Attorney General Ahmed Irfan said in a media conference on Wednesday that Kulbhushan Jadhav was invited to file a review petition on June 17, but he "preferred to follow up on his pending mercy petition," and added that Pakistan has offered him a second consular access.
"Jadhav has been sentenced to execution through a farcical trial. He remains under custody of Pakistan’s military. He has clearly been coerced to refuse to file a review in his case," the MEA said.
"In a brazen attempt to scuttle even the inadequate remedy under the Ordinance, Pakistan has obviously coerced Shri Jadhav to forego his rights to seek an implementation of the judgment of the ICJ," the ministry said.
On 20 May 2020 Pakistan passed an Ordinance to allow for the High Court to review the sentence awarded by their military court, the MEA said.
"Pakistan has all along maintained that their laws allowed for effective review and reconsideration while we have protested it all along. Now, after almost a year, they have made a u-turn and issued an Ordinance to ostensibly provide for some sort of review," a spokesperson of the ministry said.
India has already expressed serious concerns at the content of the Ordinance and how it violates the ICJ judgment and it is clear that Pakistan is only seeking to create an illusion of remedy, said the statement.
"Since 2017, when Military Court carried out a farcical trial, Pakistan has refused to hand over any relevant document, including FIR, evidence, court order, etc in the case to India. Clearly, Pakistan is attempting to create a mirage of compliance with the ICJ judgment," the ministry added.
Kulbhushan Jadhav, a former Naval officer, was arrested by Pakistan in March 2016 on charges of espionage and a military court sentenced him to death a year later.
India rubbished the charges and took Pakistan to ICJ in April 2017, and the next month, Jadhav's execution was stayed.
Pakistan claimed Jadhav was arrested from Baluchistan. Opposing it, India asserted he was kidnapped from Iran where he had personal business interests after retiring from navy.
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