Imran regime buckles under global pressure on Kulbhushan Jadhav

Indian government moved to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) when the Pakistani military court sentenced Indian national Kulbhushan Jadhav to death in 2017.

New Delhi: India's diplomatic strategies and effective planning to safeguard Indian national Kulbhushan Jadhav, held unlawfully in Pakistan, have finally yielded positive results.

The Pakistan Parliament, in a joint sitting on Wednesday (November 17), passed a bill that will give Jadhav the right to appeal against his conviction by the military court in that country.

However, it ought to be pointed out that it took Islamabad two years to finally agree to pass a bill that would allow Jadhav to seek a remedy against the capital punishment order against him by Pakistan's military court.

The International Court of Justice (Review and Re-consideration) Bill, 2020, was moved by Law Minister Farogh Nasim and was passed with a majority vote.

Mr Jadhav, a retired Indian Navy officer, was sentenced to death by a Pakistani military court in April 2017. 

The Modi government took up the battle to protect Jadhav and had moved the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

The ICJ at The Hague, in its historic and landmark judgment on July 17, 2019, observed that Pakistan was under an obligation to provide chances to Jadhav to seek "reconsideration" of the conviction and sentence against him. 

The ICJ had also ruled that Pakistan breached its international obligations because of failing to provide consular access to Mr Jadhav.

Pakistan has claimed earlier that Jadhav was arrested from Balochistan in 2016 on charges of espionage. 

India has rejected Pakistan's allegations and said he was 'kidnapped' from the Iranian port of Chabahar. Since his retirement, Jadhav has been pursuing his personal business in Iran.

The Pakistan National Assembly had on June 10 this year adopted the bill to give the right of appeal to Kulbhushan Jadhav, and now the Joint Sitting nod would help his case.

Coincidentally, the Pakistan government and Parliament have agreed to pass such a draft law that would try to paint as a goodwill gesture to India when the Imran Khan regime is under immense pressure from opposition parties and extremist groups.