IHC gives India three weeks to get lawyer for spy Kulbhushan Jadhav

ISLAMABAD: The Indian government has been given three more weeks by the Islamabad High Court (IHC) to appoint counsel for incarcerated spy Kulbhushan Jadhav.

A larger bench of the IHC heard the government petition to appoint a lawyer for the Indian agent.

It is our responsibility to ensure a fair trial in the Kulbhushan Jadhav case, IHC Chief Justice Athar Minallah said during the proceedings. 

The IHC CJ asked the lawyer representing the Indian High Commission in Islamabad about India’s stance in the case.

Read more: Govt moves IHC to appoint legal counsel for Indian spy Kulbhushan Jadhav

Indian HC lawyer Barrister Shahnawaz quoted the High Commission as saying that India’s External Affairs Ministry is holding meetings over the issue in Delhi.

Attorney General Khalid Javed Khan informed the bench that the government is willing to offer India consular access to Jadhav for the third time.

Barrister Shahnawaz said India is concerned over the detention of its national Muhammad Ismail in spite of completing his sentence.

Ismail should be freed if there is no bar, the IHC CJ responded. To this, the attorney-general had said the offence pertains to the Official Secrets Act.

The hearing was adjourned on Tuesday till January 14.

Who is Kulbhushan Jadhav?

Commander Jadhav — an Indian Navy officer working for Indian covert agency Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) — was arrested on March 3, 2016, from Balochistan after he entered Pakistan from Iran.

Read more: Indian High Commission counsel given one week to get instructions from Jadhav

According to a statement by the FO, he had confessed during investigation "to his involvement in terrorist activities inside Pakistan that resulted in the loss of many precious human lives".

"He also made important revelations about RAW’s role in sponsoring state terrorism in Pakistan," the statement added.

Jadhav was sentenced to death by a Pakistan military court on April 10, 2017