Pak parliament passes bill enabling Kulbhushan Jadhav's right to appeal as ordered by ICJ
Story highlights
Kulbhushan Jadhav is set to get right to appeal as per ruling of International Court of Justice (ICJ). Pakistan parliament has passed a bill in this regard
Kulbhushan Jadhav, the Indian national on death row in Pakistan, got the right to appeal the sentence as Pakistani parliament passed a bill enabling him to do so as ordered by the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
Pakistan claims that Kulbhushan Jadhav is a spy, while India maintains that he was abducted from Iran while conducting his own business.
Jadhav was sentenced to death by a military court in Pakistan 2017. India had then approached the ICJ and was able to obtain a stay on the Pakistani court order.
In 2020, Imran Khan government had presented an ordinance in Pakistan's National Assembly in accordance with the International Court of Justice verdict. Pakistan's Opposition parties had opposed this move.
ICJ, based at The Hague, had asked Pakistan in 2019 to ensure "effective review and reconsideration" of the death sentence handed to Jadhav and also given instruction to provide him consular access.
"Pakistan was under an obligation to provide, by means of its own choosing, effective review and reconsideration of the conviction and sentence of Mr. Jadhav, so as to ensure that full weight was given to the effect of the violation of the rights set forth in Article 36 of the Vienna Convention," ICJ had observed.