Govt rubbishes PPP's allegations of giving relief to Indian spy via secret ordinance

Law ministry says allegations reflect poor understanding of Pakistan’s delicate security issues

ISLAMABAD:

The Ministry of Law has rejected allegations hurled by the Pakistan Peoples Party leadership that the federal government had secretly promulgated an ordinance to give reprieve to Indian spy Kulbhushan Jadhav without taking the Parliament into confidence with “malafide intent”.

The rebuttal comes in response to PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari’s claim that the PTI-led government was trying to provide relief to the self-confessed Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) commander through secret ordinance.

A statement issued by the ministry on Saturday termed the allegations baseless and clarified that the Indian government had initiated proceedings against Pakistan in the International Court of Justice (ICJ), in the matter of the detention and trial of the spy, who was arrested on March 3, 2016 in Balochistan on charges of espionage, and condemned to death by a military court the following year.

The statement recalled that Jadhav as RAW operative facilitated numerous acts of terrorism in Pakistan, which resulted in the death of many innocent citizens.

The ICJ announced its verdict on July 17, 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,” read the law ministry’s statement.

The aforementioned ordinance was promulgated when the Parliament was not in session, said the ministry, adding that it is the prerogative of the country’s president to promulgate ordinance under Article 89 of the Constitution.

The statement lamented that casting aspersions on the decision of the federal government reflects a poor understanding in respect of Pakistan’s delicate security issues and international obligations and is an attempt to confuse the public.

In the past, many ordinances were issued by the then governments following the same procedures “so there is no question that the Ordinance was illegally or unlawfully promulgated,” it added.