Islamabad HC to take up case related to appointment of Kulbhushan Jadhav's defence counsel

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) will take up the case related to appointment of defence counsel for Indian national Kulbhushan Jadhav on Thursday, according to reports.

ARY News reported that a larger bench of the high court comprising Chief Justice Athar Minallah, Justice Amir Farooq, and Justice Mian Gull Hassan Aurangzeb will hear the case.

Last month, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) of India had said that it has asked Pakistan for Jadhav to be represented by an Indian lawyer for filing a review petition against his death sentence.

"We are in touch with Pakistan through diplomatic channels. We believe for a free and fair trial in keeping with the letter and spirit of International Court of Justice (ICJ) judgment, we have asked that Jadhav be represented by an Indian lawyer," MEA Spokesperson Anurag Srivastava had said during a virtual briefing.

"However, it is important that Pakistan needs to address the core issues and these core issues involve providing all the necessary documents in this case as well as providing unimpeded consular access to Jadhav," he had said.

Last month, the IHC had formed a larger bench to hear the petition case pertaining to the appointment of legal representative for Jadhav, who is on death row in Pakistan.

Geo News had reported that the larger bench, comprising IHC Chief Justice Athar Minallah, Justice Amir Farooq and Justice Mian Gull Hassan Aurangzeb, was formed, which will hear the case on September 3.

The decision came after India continued to pressurise Pakistan into allowing consular access to Jadhav.

Pakistan media had reported earlier that Islamabad Court said Indian officials should be given an opportunity to present their stance. India had said that it had not received any communication from Pakistan government.

India also said that Pakistan has blocked all avenues for effective remedy available to it in the case.

Pakistan claims that Jadhav was arrested from Balochistan in 2016 on charges of espionage.

India has rejected Pakistan's allegations and said he was kidnapped from the Iran port of Chabahar. In early 2017, a Pakist military court sentenced him to death.

The ICJ upheld India's claim that Pakistan has committed an egregious violation of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations on several counts.

( With inputs from ANI )