India given another chance to appoint legal rep for Jadhav

ISLAMABAD: Government of Pakistan offered New Delhi third consular access to the RAW spy Kulbhushan Jadhav whereas India is not showing any interest to appoint legal representative for him.

Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Thursday gave another chance to India to engage defence counsel for RAW spy Kulbhushan Jadhav. IHC larger bench comprising Chief Justice Athar Minallah, Justice Aamir Farooq and Justice Mian Gull Hassan Aurangzeb heard the case. During hearing, Attorney General (AG) Khalid Javed Khan stated before the court that the government of Pakistan offered New 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 said that the federal government wants Indian High Commission in Islamabad to appoint legal representative for Jadhav but New 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 bench in its order stated, “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 of Justice.”

The court later adjourned the hearing till October 6.

Federal government had filed a petition in Islamabad High Court seeking appointment of defence counsel for Kulbhushan Jadhav.