Indian national Kulbhushan Jadhav, currently imprisoned in Pakistan on espionage charges, was granted consular access only after the 2019 verdict by the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
However, this access did not include the right to appeal his conviction in a higher court, Pakistan's Defence Ministry informed its Supreme Court, according to a report by Dawn.
This revelation came during proceedings before a constitutional bench of the Supreme Court of Pakistan, which is currently hearing a case involving Pakistani citizens convicted by military courts in connection with the violent protests of May 9, 2023. These protests erupted after the arrest of former Prime Minister and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief, Imran Khan.
Legal context and ICJ ruling
Pakistan's Defence Ministry made the clarification in response to judicial queries over whether Kulbhushan Jadhav was granted the right to appeal, and why similar legal provisions had not been extended to Pakistani citizens facing military court convictions.
The Ministry's legal counsel admitted that Pakistan had been found in violation of Article 36 of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, which grants detainees the right to consular assistance from their home country.
Following the ICJ’s July 2019 ruling, which concluded that Pakistan had breached international law by denying India consular access to Jadhav, Islamabad amended its legislation to allow for a limited judicial review of military court decisions. However, this did not translate into a full-fledged right to appeal the conviction or sentence.
Kulbhushan Jadhav, a retired officer of the Indian Navy, was arrested in March 2016 in Balochistan by Pakistani authorities, who accused him of being an operative of India's external intelligence agency, the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW). He was sentenced to death in 2017 by a Pakistani military court for alleged involvement in espionage and terrorism, specifically in aiding Baloch separatist movements.
Pakistan maintains that Jadhav was captured inside its territory. India, however, strongly contests this narrative, stating that Jadhav was abducted from the Iranian port city of Chabahar, where he was engaged in legitimate business activities following his retirement from the navy.
India’s stand and ICJ’s directive
India challenged the verdict at the ICJ, which ruled in its favor, affirming that Pakistan had violated Jadhav's rights under the Vienna Convention. The court directed Pakistan to stay his execution and to "effectively review and reconsider" the conviction and sentence.
Despite the ICJ ruling, India has consistently accused Pakistan of non-compliance. In July 2020, a year after the verdict, India stated that Pakistan had failed to implement the ruling “in letter and spirit” and described Jadhav’s trial process as "farcical."
Developments in Pakistani Supreme Court
Meanwhile, during the ongoing hearing related to the May 9 riots, the Supreme Court of Pakistan was informed that Attorney General Mansoor Usman Awan is currently engaged in high-level deliberations on whether to grant the right of appeal to Pakistani civilians convicted by military courts. The court granted the Attorney General additional time to present his position on the matter.
The comparison drawn between Jadhav’s case and that of Pakistani citizens facing military justice has reignited debate over due process, transparency, and the scope of judicial oversight in military court proceedings.
Further developments are expected as both the Pakistani judiciary and executive deliberate on these critical legal and constitutional issues.
Also Read: Pak man behind Kulbhushan's kidnap shot by unknown gunmen
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