Pakistan’s opposition parties called Prime Minister Imran Khan a traitor and accused him of being a ‘friend’ of his counterpart in New Delhi, Narendra Modi, as his government brushed aside protests and got a Bill passed by the country’s National Assembly, giving former Indian Navy officer, Kulbhushan Jadhav, right of appeal against death sentence.
The opposition lawmakers raised slogans like “Modi Ka Jo Yar Hai Ghaddar Hai” (Modi’s Friend is a Traitor) and “Kulbhushan Ko Phansi Do” (Hang Kulbhushan) as Imran Khan’s government got the proposed law passed by the lower house of Pakistan’s Parliament amid ruckus.
The International Court of Justice (Review and Reconsideration) Bill, 2020 seeks to specifically grant the former Indian Navy officer incarcerated in Pakistan the right of appeal against the death sentence awarded to him by a military court of the neighbouring country in April 2017.
The Bill was among the 21 proposed legislation Khan government got passed by the National Assembly on Thursday, amid ruckus and boycott by the protesting MPs of the Pakistan Muslim League – Nawaz and Pakistan People’s Party.
Jadhav has been in the custody of Pakistan Army for at least since March 2016. He was accused and convicted of being involved in espionage and sabotage in Pakistan on behalf of an external intelligence agency of India.
A military tribunal awarded him a death sentence in April 2017. New Delhi moved the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which on July 17, 2019, concluded that Islamabad had violated Article 36 of the Vienna Convention of Consular Relations 1963, and the death sentence awarded to Jadhav would remain suspended till the review of the conviction.
The ICJ also asked Pakistan government to provide Jadhav a proper forum for appeal against the death sentence awarded to him.
(Published 11 June 2021, 18:03 IST)
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