New Delhi: India on Thursday slammed Pakistan for creating confusion over the last date of filing a review petition in the case of Kulbhushan Jadhav, a death row Indian national, languishing in a Pakistani jail.
At the virtual media briefing here, External Affairs Ministry's official spokesperson Anurag Srivastav blamed Pakistan for refusing to provide relevant documents and power of attorney for filing review petition in court in that country.
“In the absence of a unimpeded and unhindered consular access as well as of the relevant documents, as a last resort, India tried to file a petition on July 18. However, our Pakistani lawyer informed that a review petition could not be filed in the absence of power of attorney and supporting documents related to the case of Kulbhushan Jadhav,”the spokesperson said.
He said that Pakistan also created confusion over the last date of filing a petition. Initially, they indicated that a petition has to be filed by no later than July 19. Subsequently, Pakistan indicated that the time limit to file a review petition shall expire on July 20.
“Knowing the inadequacies and shortcomings in the Ordinance, India had already shared its concerns in June 2020, including a considerable delay in informing India about its promulgation, with the Pakistan authorities. Pakistan took two weeks to inform us about this Ordinance and shared the copy of the Ordinance only after India requested the same. India has conveyed that the Ordinance neither fulfills nor does it give complete weight to the judgment of the ICJ. With regards to the Ordinance, it seems, Pakistan was non-serious in its approach and was not interested in implementing the judgment of the ICJ in letter and spirit. It has blocked all the avenues for an effective remedy available for India,”he said.
The spokesperson said the whole exercise of not providing any documents related to the case even after repeated requests, not providing an unimpeded consular access and some reported unilateral action of approaching the High Court on part of Pakistan again exposes the farcical nature of Pakistan’s approach.
“Pakistan is not only in violation of the judgment of ICJ, but also of its own Ordinance. Pakistan has completely failed to provide the remedy as directed by the ICJ and India reserves its position in the matter, including its rights to avail of further remedies,”he said.
India has so far requested consular access 12 times over the past one year. However, Pakistan has so far not been able to provide an unimpeded consular access. The meeting of Consular Officers with Mr Jadhav on July 16 was scuttled by Pakistan authorities. The Consular Officers were instructed not to hand over any document to Mr Jadhav. Hence, the Indian Consular Officers could not obtain a Power of Attorney from Mr Jadhav.
