IHC adjourns Jadhav case till March 9

ISLAMABAD: A larger bench of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) Wednesday adjourned till March 9 the hearing of a petition seeking to appoint a lawyer to contest the review case of Indian spy Kulbhushan Jadhav in light of the International Court of Justice's (ICJ) decision .

The bench comprising Chief Justice Athar Minallah, Justice Aamer Farooq and Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb heard the petition filed by the Ministry of Law and Justice.

The hearing was adjourned due to the engagements of . However, the AAP informed the court that other all five Indian prisoners had been released.

During the course of proceeding, the Additional Attorney General (AAG) adopted the stance that Attorney General for Pakistan (AGP) could not attend the proceedings due to his engagements in the Supreme Court.

At this, the chief justice asked whether they wanted adjournment today.

The AAG said he would assist the court in another matter. The remaining Indian prisoner Muhammad Ismail was also released on January 22. Now all the five Indian prisoners, about whom the Indian High Commissioner had filed a petition, had been released, he added.

The court noted that the lawyer of Indian High Commission did not appear before it and directed him to ensure his attendance on next hearing.

The AAG informed the court that the AGP would give arguments in the Kulbhushan Jadhav case on next hearing.

Amicus curiae Hamid Khan also appeared before the court.