Kulbhushan Jadhav case: Pakistan turns down India's call for allowing Queen's counsel

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Friday turned down Indian request to allow a Queen's Counsel to represent its convicted spy Kulbhushan Jadhav in Islamabad High Court (IHC) on his review and reconsideration petition and making it clear once again that only a lawyer having license of the Pakistani court can appear before the IHC in the case.

In his weekly media briefing, Foreign Office spokesperson Zahid Hafeez Chaudhri ruled out any possibility of allowing a Queen's Counsel, as proposed by the Indian side to represent Jadhav in the IHC's hearing for review and reconsideration in light of the International Court of Justice's (ICJ) verdict.

"Allowing a Queen's Counsel in the case is out of question...Only a lawyer with license of the Pakistani court can appear before the court," he said, while responding to a question about India's proposal to allow a Queen's Counsel to represent Jadhav in the case following New Delhi's earlier request for allowing an Indian lawyer was also been rejected.

He pointed out that India had been consistently making the unrealistic demand of allowing a lawyer from outside Pakistan to represent Commander Kulbhushan Jadhav.

"We have informed India that only those lawyers are allowed to appear in Pakistani courts who have a license to practice law in Pakistan. This is in line with international legal practice. There can be no change in this position," he added.

About the consular access to the India spy, he said that Pakistan had already given an "unimpeded and uninterrupted" access to Jadhav and it was ready to extend the same again.

The spokesperson also shared the scheduled of prime minister's engagement during the high-level week and the general debate of the 75th Session of the UN General Assembly to be commenced on 22 September 2020.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2020