Accompanied by Lawyers, Officials of Indian High Commission May Get Consular Access to Kulbhushan Jadhav Today

Officials of the Indian High Commission, accompanied by lawyers may get consular access to Kulbhushan Jadhav on Thursday.

Sources said, however, that India will only take the consular access if it is "unimpeded and unhindered". Pakistan has to agree to this first, they said.

Jadhav is in need of legal representation, especially since Pakistan is claiming that he has rejected filing a petition, sources said, adding that because of this, someone has to take up the case on his behalf. But for that, unimpeded access to him remains vital, they concluded.

Meanwhile, as the deadline for filing a review plea against Jadhav's death sentence neared, a senior Pakistani Opposition Senator has criticised the government for not tabling in Parliament an ordinance promulgated in May to allow a foreign national to file a petition for the reconsideration of a military court's verdict.

The issue of the ordinance was raised in the Senate by Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) leader Raza Rabbani when a minister was about to present in the upper house the COVID-19 (prevention of hoarding) Ordinance after a delay of almost three months, Dawn newspaper reported on Thursday.

Pakistan enacted an ordinance called the International Court of Justice Review and Reconsideration Ordinance 2020 on May 20 under which a petition for the review of a military court's decision can be made to Islamabad High Court through an application within 60 days of its promulgation.

Jadhav, the 50-year-old retired Indian Navy officer, was sentenced to death by a Pakistani military court on charges of "espionage and terrorism" in April 2017.

(With inputs from PTI)