Pakistan has passed a bill in a joint sitting of the National Assembly and Senate which may enable Kulbhushan Jadhav, an Indian prisoner on death row, to appeal against his conviction. The law has been brought to comply with the judgement of the International Court of Justice.
India is not convinced with Pakistan's move and has said that the law does not create machinery for effective review and reconsideration.
"We have seen reports of Pakistan enacting into law the earlier ordinance that was ostensibly enacted to bring into effect the judgement of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in the Kulbhushan Jadhav case," Ministry of External Affairs Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said in response to a media query.
India also said there is nothing new in the law and it codifies the shortcomings of the previous ordinance.
"Nothing could have been further from the truth. As stated earlier, the ordinance did not create the machinery for an effective review and reconsideration of Shri Jadhav's case as mandated by the judgement of the ICJ. The Law simply codifies the shortcomings of the previous ordinance," Bagchi said.
Pakistan has denied unimpeded consular access to Jadhav.
The spokesperson said Pakistan continues to deny unimpeded and unhindered consular access to Jadhav and "has failed to create an atmosphere in which a fair trial can be conducted".
"India has repeatedly called upon Pakistan to abide by the letter and spirit of the ICJ judgement," he said.
Jadhav, 51, a retired naval officer is on death row. Pakistan claims that Jadhav was arrested from Balochistan in 2016 on charges of espionage and terrorism. India has rejected Pakistan's allegations and said he was kidnapped from the Iranian port of Chabahar.
India approached ICJ in 2017 against the death sentence and denial of consular access to Jadhav.
( With inputs from ANI )
Disclaimer: This post has been auto-published from an agency feed without any modifications to the text and has not been reviewed by an editor