Clarion India
NEW DELHI – Kulbhaushan Jadhav, the retired Indian Navy officer on a death row in Pakistan, is reported to have refused to file a review petition and wants to go ahead with his pending mercy plea.
“He (Kulbhushan Jadhav) preferred to follow up on his pending mercy petition… Pakistan has offered second consular access to him,” said Additional Attorney General Ahmed Irfan while addressing a media conference along with director general South Asia in Islamabad.
On June 17, Kulbhushan Jadhav was invited to file a petition for review and reconsideration of his sentence and conviction. Exercising his legal right he refused to file a petition for review and reconsideration of his sentence and conviction, the Additional Attorney General added.
Kulbhushan Jadhav was allegedly “arrested” from Balochistan by Pakistani security forces on March 3, 2016, after he allegedly entered the country from Iran as claimed by Islamabad. India has rejected Pakistan’s allegations about Kulbhushan Jadhav’s involvement in spying and subversive activities and said he was kidnapped from the Iranian port of Chabahar where he was running a business.
Kulbhushan Jadhav was sentenced to death by a Pakistan military court in 2017. India is in contact with Pakistan through diplomatic channels on implementation of International Court of Justice (ICJ) decision in Kulbhushan Jadhav case, news agency ANI reported quoting sources.
“Last year the ICJ gave a decision in favour of India. We are in touch with Pakistan through diplomatic channels on implementation of ICJ decision,” sources had said.
On September 2 last year, India’s Deputy High Commissioner to Pakistan Gaurav Ahluwalia met Kulbhushan Jadhav in Islamabad after Pakistan had granted consular access to the Indian national.
In July, the ICJ, by a vote of 15-1, had upheld India’s claim that Pakistan has committed a violation of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations on several counts. The world court had ordered Islamabad to carry out an effective “review and reconsideration” of his conviction.
— With input from agencies
