Kulbhushan Jadhav will not be executed until he exhausts all his mercy appeals, confims Pakistan

Islamabad: In a major development in Kulbhushan Jadhav case, Pakistan on Thursday confirmed that the Indian national will not be executed until he has exhausted all his mercy appeals.

Pakistan on Thursday said alleged Indian spy Kulbhushan Jadhav will remain alive till he does not exhaust the right to seek clemency.

"Irrespective of ICJ`s stay, Jadhav will remain alive until he has exhausted the right to request for clemency, initially with the COAS (army chief) and later with President," Foreign Office spokesperson Nafees Zakaria said.

He said the Indian petition at the International Court of Justice was about Jadhav`s entitlement to consular access. 

"It is not about whether the ICJ can act as a Court of Appeal from Pakistani legal proceedings. That is why Barrister Khawar Qureshi informed the Court that India cannot obtain from the Court what it is seeking. He also told the Court that India is using media to create false impression about the case."

The spokesperson said India had failed despite reminders to provide information sought on January 23 by Islamabad on the basis of Jadhav`s confession of spying and fomenting terror in Pakistan.

He termed the ICJ stay on Jadhav`s hanging as "nothing but usual".

The ICJ has stayed the execution of Jadhav, who has been awarded capital punishment by a Pakistani military court on charges of fomenting terrorism in Balochistan and Karachi.