The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Thursday gave another chance to India to hire legal representative for its convicted spy Kulbhushan Jadhav.
The court gave New Delhi time till April 13 to provide the spy with legal representation.
A larger bench comprising of Chief Justice Athar Minallah, Justice Amir Farooq and Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb heard the law ministry’s request to provide government counsel to Jadhav.
During the hearing, Attorney General of Pakistan (AGP) Khalid Javed Khan said that India does not consider Jadhav as human, but asset.
According to a news outlet, IHC Chief Justice Athar Minallah remarked that the decision of the ICJ had expressed confidence in the Pakistani judicial system and left the matter of reviewing the death penalty to Pakistan.
The AGP appraised the court of the progress made with contacts to India regarding Jadhav.
When asked by the court if an act has been passed in this regard, the AGP stated that an act has been passed on the matter in December last year, according to which the law ministry can file a petition against a foreigner, but India has no interest in providing a lawyer to Jadhav.
CJ Minallah stated that India should treat its citizen as a human being, as Pakistan views Jadhav as a human being.
In 2016, Pakistan had arrested the Indian spy – a serving officer in the Indian Navy – in Mashkel in Balochistan, a few miles from the border with Iran.
He was accused of running a spy network for the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), India’s premier intelligence agency, from the Iranian port of Chabahar.
Video confessions of his activities were released by the government and a military court had sentenced Jadhav to death in April 2017 on espionage and terrorism charges. His appeal is pending in the IHC.
