By Asghar Ali Mubarak
ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Thursday gave another chance to India to engage defence counsel for spy Kulbhushan Jadhav. A larger bench of the high court comprising Chief Justice Athar Minallah, Justice Amir Farooq, and Justice Mian Gull Hassan Aurangzeb heard the case.
“The Government of Pakistan shall once again convey the orders passed in this petition to the Government of India to enable the latter to consider taking appropriate measures in order to ensure compliance with the judgement of the International Court,” the bench said in its verdict issued after the hearing.
Attorney General (AG) Khalid Javed Khan stated before the court that the Government of Pakistan offered Delhi third consular access to the RAW agent to ensure implementation of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) judgement in letter and spirit but received no response. India still has the option to accept or reject the offer, he added.
He submitted that the federal government wants Indian High Commission in Islamabad to appoint legal representative for Jadhav but Delhi doesn’t want to benefit from legal assistance extended to the spy. He informed that Jadhav has also not changed his decision of not engaging any defence counsel. The hearing was put off until Oct 6. On July 22, the federal government filed a petition in the IHC seeking appointment of defence counsel for Kulbhushan Jadhav.
