Pakistan's actions in Kulbhushan Jadhav case exposes its farcical approach: India

India on Thursday slammed Pakistan over its non-serious and farcical approach in the Kulbhushan Jadhav case, adding that Pakistan isn't interested in implementing the judgment of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in letter and spirit. The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Anurag Srivastava asserted that Pakistan has blocked all the avenues for an effective remedy available for India in the matter.

He added that 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. Srivastava clarified that over the past one year India has requested consular access twelve times but Pakistan so far has not been able to provide unimpeded consular access.

"The meeting of the Indian Consular Officers with Jadhav on July 16 was scuttled by Pakistan authorities. The officers were instructed not to hand over any document to Jadhav and hence, they couldn't obtain a power of attorney from Jadhav," said the MEA spokesperson.

He added, "Similarly, India has repeatedly requested Pakistan for relevant documents related to the case of Jadhav. Pakistan advised India that the relevant documents could be handed over only to an authorised Pakistani lawyer. Thereafter, India appointed a Pakistani lawyer to obtain the relevant documents. To our surprise, as advised by the Pakistani authorities, when the authorised Pakistani lawyer approached the concerned authorities, they declined to hand over the documents to the lawyer."

"In the absence of an 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 Jadhav," the spokesperson further said.

"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 Pakistan's ordinance, India had already shared its concerns in June 2020, including a considerable delay in informing India about its promulgation, with the Pakistan authorities," he added.

"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 fulfils 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," the spokesperson also said.

"The whole exercise of not providing any documents related to the case even after repeated requests, not providing unimpeded consular access and some reported unilateral action of approaching the HC 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 concluded in the matter.