Pakistan on Friday rejected India’s demand for an Indian lawyer or a Queen’s Counsel to be appointed for death-row prisoner Kulbhushan Jadhav to ensure a free and fair trial.
Queen’s Counsel is a barrister or advocate, appointed Counsel to the UK Crown on the recommendation of the Lord Chancellor.
“Allowing a Queen’s Counsel for Jadhav is out of the question as only a lawyer with a license to practice in Pakistan can appear before the court,” Foreign Office Spokesperson Zahid Hafeez Chaudri said at a press briefing on Friday.
Foreign Office spokesperson Zahid Hafeez Chaudhri, replying to a question during a media briefing, said India has been consistently making the “unrealistic demand” of allowing a lawyer from outside Pakistan to represent Kulbhushan Jadhav, sentenced to death by a Pakistani military court for alleged spying.
Earlier this month, the Islamabad High Court in Pakistan directed the federal government to give India another chance to appoint a lawyer to represent Jadhav and adjourned the hearing for a month.
Pakistan’s Parliament on Tuesday extended for four months an ordinance that allowed Jadhav to file an appeal against his conviction in a high court as required by the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
Ministry of External Affairs Spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said the government of Pakistan has not been able to fulfill its obligations on the implementation of the ICJ judgment in letter and spirit.
“It has not yet addressed the core issues, which include the provision of all documents related to the case, providing unconditional and unimpeded consular access to Kulbhusan Jadhav and appointment of an Indian lawyer or a Queen’s counsel to ensure a free and fair trial,” he said at an online media briefing on Thursday.
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 Iranian port of Chabahar. In early 2017, a Pakistani military court sentenced him to death.
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) had upheld India’s claim that Pakistan has committed an egregious violation of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations on several counts.