Taking all steps to ensure safety of Kulbhushan Jadhav: MEA

“Our government is taking all possible steps to ensure the safety of Kulbhushan Jadhav,” reported ANI quoting the Ministry of External Affairs on Thursday. The MEA added that they were in touch with Pakistan through diplomatic channels.

Earlier on Thursday, the Islamabad High Court heard the case of Indian national Kulbhushan Jadhav and directed the government to appoint a lawyer for the death-row prisoner.

The Islamabad High Court took up the case of the appointment of a lawyer for Jadhav to hear the review of the death sentence given to him by a Pakistan military court.

Jadhav, a retired Indian Navy officer, was sentenced to death by the Pakistan military court in April 2017 on charges of “espionage and terrorism.”

Attorney General Khalid Javed Khan told the court that to comply with the orders of the International Court of Justice (ICJ), Pakistan granted consular access to India, however, it has not replied to Pakistan’s offer to appoint a lawyer for him.

The IHC, after hearing the arguments, ordered the government to send its order on Jadhav to India and adjourned the hearing until October 3 when the case would be taken up again.

Pakistan has introduced a special law to allow Jadhav to get his sentence reviewed as asked by the ICJ.

India had approached the ICJ against Pakistan for denial of consular access to Jadhav and challenging the death sentence.

The Hague-based ICJ ruled in July last year that Pakistan must undertake an “effective review and reconsideration” of the conviction and sentence of Jadhav and also to grant consular access to India without further delay.

Pakistan claims that its security forces arrested Jadhav from the restive Balochistan province on March 3, 2016, after he reportedly entered from Iran. India maintains that Jadhav was kidnapped from Iran where he had business interests after retiring from the Navy.