Pakistan's new trick, claims Kulbhushan Jadhav refused to file review petition against death sentence

Pakistan on Wednesday unilaterally claimed that Indian national Kulbhushan Jadhav, who had been arrested on alleged espionage charges and languishing in its jail, has refused to file a petition for review of his death sentence and conviction.

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Wednesday (July 8, 2020) unilaterally claimed that Indian national Kulbhushan Jadhav, who had been arrested on alleged espionage charges and languishing in its jail, has refused to file a petition for review of his death sentence and conviction.

He (Kulbhushan Jadhav) instead preferred to follow up on his pending mercy petition, the Pakistani media claimed, citing government sources. 

“On June 17, 2020, Indian national 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,” Additional Attorney General claimed on Wednesday, according to the Pakistani media reports.

Pakistan has, meanwhile, offered consular access to Jadhav, a former Indian Navy officer, for a second time, the media reports added.

Kulbhushan Jadhav, the 49-year-old retired Indian Navy officer, was sentenced to death by a Pakistani military court on charges of "espionage and terrorism" in April 2017.

India has categorically rejected Pakistan`s allegations about 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.

Jadhav was arrested on March 3, 2016, and sentenced to death on charges of espionage and terrorism in April 2017. In May 2017, India moved the ICJ against the “farcical trial” by Pakistan’s military court.

In July last year, the ICJ, in its verdict, directed Pakistan to allow consular access and effectively review the death sentence. The court observed that Pakistan had breached international law by not granting consular access.

Earlier in May, Pakistan said that it has "fully complied" with the ICJ's verdict in the Kulbhushan Jadhav case, days after India's lead counsel Harish Salve asserted that New Delhi had hoped it might be able to persuade Islamabad through "back channel" to release the Indian death-row convict.