PTI

Islamabad

A Pakistani court has adjourned till October 5 the hearing of a government’s plea to appoint a counsel for Indian death-row prisoner Kulbhushan Jadhav on request of the country’s top law officer, according to a media report.

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.

India approached the International Court of Justice against Pakistan for denial of consular access to Jadhav and challenging the death sentence.

The Hague-based ICJ ruled in July 2019 that Pakistan must undertake an “effective review and reconsideration” of the conviction and sentence of Jadhav and also to grant consular access to India without further delay.

On Tuesday, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) adjourned the hearing of the government’s plea to appoint counsel for Jadhav till October 5 at the request of the Attorney General for Pakistan (AGP) Khalid Javed Khan, The Express Tribune reported.

The court also issued notice to the counsel of the Indian High Commission to appear before the court on the next date of hearing.

At the last hearing of the case on May 7, an IHC larger bench – comprising Justice Athar Minallah, Justice Aamer Farooq and Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb –gave India another chance to appoint a counsel for Jadhav by June 15.

At an earlier hearing, AGP Khan had informed the court that India contends that the appearance of its consul before a Pakistani court to defend Jadhav would amount to submission to the jurisdiction of the court and would violate its “sovereign immunity”.

The larger bench had later issued a three-page written order stating that submission to the jurisdiction of any court is “quite distinct” from appearing before a court to assist it in a matter