Govt responds to Kulbhushan Jadhav reprieve ordinance

The Ministry of Law and Justice has denied the allegations that secretly an Ordinance with a view to give reprieve to the Indian Commander Kulbhushan Sudhir Jadhav was promulgated by the Federal Government, without taking the country or the Parliament into confidence with a malafide intent.

In a statement, the spokesman said: “The allegations are baseless and it is clarified that the Government of India had initiated proceedings against Pakistan in the International Court of Justice (ICJ), in the matter of the detention and trial of an Indian national, Commander Kulbhushan Sudhir Jadhav, who had been sentenced to death by a military court in Pakistan in April 2017.”

“Kindly recall that Commander Kulbhushan Sudhir Jadhav was a RAW operative, who facilitated numerous acts of terrorism in Pakistan, which resulted in the killings of countless innocent citizens of Pakistan.”

The ICJ gave its Judgment on 17th July, 2019 wherein it observed that “Pakistan is under an obligation to provide, by means of its own choosing, effective review and reconsideration of the conviction and sentence of Mr. Jadhav, so as to ensure that full weight is given to the effect of the violation of the rights set forth in Article 36 of the Vienna Convention, taking account of paragraphs 139, 145 and 146 of this Judgment.”

In order to comply with the directions of the ICJ, the International Court of Justice (Review and Reconsideration) Ordinance, 2020 was promulgated to provide an effective mechanism of review and reconsideration to Commander Jadhav, of Pakistan’s own choice.

Under Article 89 of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, it is the prerogative of the President of Pakistan to promulgate an Ordinance when Parliament is not in session.

The Ordinance was promulgated when the Parliament was not in session. Please note that casting aspersions on the decision of the Federal Government to promulgate the Ordinance in question, reflects a poor understanding in respect of Pakistan’s delicate security issues and international obligations and is an attempt to confuse the public.

During the past, many Ordinances were issued by the then Federal Governments. The procedure followed with regard to the present Ordinance is no different so there is no question that the Ordinance was illegally or unlawfully promulgated.