Pakistan's parliamentary committee has approved the government's bill seeking a review of the death sentence awarded to Indian citizen Kulbhushan Jadhav following international court instructions. The draft bill, titled the International Court of Justice (Review and Reconsideration) Ordinance, was discussed and approved by the National Assembly's Standing Committee on Law and Justice on Wednesday, despite strong opposition from the opposition, according to a media report published on Thursday.
Taking part in the debate of the committee, Pakistan's Minister of Justice and Law, Farog Naseem said that the bill has been brought in compliance with the directions of the International Court of Justice. He warned that if Parliament does not approve the bill, Pakistan could face sanctions for not complying with the decision of the International Court of Justice. Kulbhushan Jadhav, a 50-year-old retired officer from the Indian Navy, was sentenced to death in April 2017 by a Pakistan military court on charges of espionage and terrorism.
India moved the International Court of Justice in 2017 against Pakistan's military court's decision and Jadhav's refusal to give diplomatic contacts. The Hague-based international court ruled in July 2019 that Pakistan should effectively review and reconsider the decision to convict and sentence Jadhav. Simultaneously, the court ordered India to be granted diplomatic access to Jadhav without delay.
According to the Dawn newspaper, members of the opposition Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI-F) in the Standing Committee requested Chairman Riyaz Fatiyana that this bill Dismiss However, Fatyana, who belongs to the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), decided to resolve the deadlock by voting. He also tried to prevent two PTI members from going to the meeting before the vote.
According to the news, eight members of the committee voted in favor of the bill while five members opposed it. Opposition members have called the bill a national reconciliation ordinance (NRO) for Jadhav. It is worth mentioning that the NRO was released by former President and military dictator General (retd) Pervez Musharraf to the country's exiled political leadership in which several cases of corruption against politicians were withdrawn.
Alia Kamran of JUI-F alleged that the government was confusing the country's establishment by saying that it was not bringing the bill for Jadhav. He said that the Bill should be put before the public and bar association for general debate. Kamran said, "The bill is unnecessary because the former Chief Justice of Pakistan has already stated in his judgment that constitutional courts can review the decisions of military courts."
Syed Naveed Qamar of PPP said that through the bill, the government wants to give relief to Jadhav from the appeal against the decision of the military court which is not available even to Pakistani citizens. He said that we are opposing this bill being brought to give NRO to Jadhav. The Law Ministry said that through this bill, it wants to prevent India from filing a possible contempt case against Pakistan in the International Court of Justice.
He said that if this does not happen and the matter is referred to the UN Security Council, the country may face sanctions. The minister underlined that despite being granted permission following the order of the International Court of Justice, neither India nor Kulbhushan Jadhav has filed a petition for relief in the Islamabad High Court.
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