New Delhi: Four months after International Court of Justice called for the “effective review” of Indian national Kulbhushan Jadhav’s conviction, Pakistan is still examining various options for “review and reconsideration”.
On July 17, ICJ had ruled the Pakistan had breached its obligations under international law in preventing Indian diplomats to meet Kulbhushan Jadhav, an Indian national. India filed a suit against Pakistan after the latter sentenced Jadhav on terror charges in 2017. His arrest in 2016 had been announced through the broadcast of a video ‘confession’ on Pakistani television.
Pakistan has claimed that Jadhav is a serving Indian naval officer and intelligence agent, who had masterminded several terror incidents in the country. Dismissing all these allegations, India had stated that Jadhav had already retired from the Indian navy and had been kidnapped from Iran.
The UN’s top judicial organ had not accepted India’s prayer for annulling Jadhav’s sentence. But it had directed Pakistan to ensure “effective review and reconsideration” of his death sentence, keeping in view the principles of “fair trial”.
In September, Pakistan allowed an Indian diplomat to meet with Jadhav for two hours in Islamabad. India had stated then that Jadhav had seemed to be under “extreme pressure”.
On Tuesday, Pakistani news channel ARY News reported from “well-placed sources” that Pakistan would amend its laws to allow Jadhav to file an appeal in a civilian court.
“The sources further revealed that the case being tried under military courts and the Army Act law forbade such individuals or groups from filing an appeal and seeking justice from the civilian court but a special amendment was being made for the Indian naval officer,” said the ARY news report.
Pakistan had informed the court that there were two appeal procedures open to Jadhav, a mercy petition to the army chief, followed by the president of Pakistan.
Several hours after the news was aired, Pakistani army spokesperson, Director General of Inter-Services Public Relations, Asif Ghafoor described reports about amending the army act as “incorrect”. “Various legal options for review and reconsideration of the case are being considered. Final status shall be shared in due course of time,” he tweeted on Tuesday evening.
Speculations for amendment in Pak Army Act to implement ICJ verdict regarding convicted Indian terrorist Cdr Kulbushan Jadhav are incorrect. Various legal options for review and reconsideration of the case are being considered. Final status shall be shared in due course of time.
— DG ISPR (@OfficialDGISPR) November 13, 2019
While Pakistan was allowed use the “means of its own choosing” to conduct the review, ICJ had said that the violation of rights of consular access under Vienna convention and its implications on a fair trial, had to be properly examined during the review process.
“In particular, any potential prejudice and the implications for the evidence and the right of defence of the accused should receive close scrutiny during the review and reconsideration,” said the ICJ judgment of July 17.
This presumably means that many of the characteristics of the military court, for example the bar on outside observers, defence lawyers and the acceptability of the video confession, would have to be abandoned during the “review and reconsideration” process.
Following the July judgment of ICJ, India’s lawyer, Harish Salve had told reporters that if Pakistan reviewed Jadhav’s case in military courts with the same rules, it would yet again not meet the standards of a fair trial.