ISLAMABAD – Pakistan on Thursday categorically dismissed any option toamend local laws on India’s demand to allow its own lawyers to fight thecase of spy Kulbhushan Jadhav in Pakistani courts.
“Pakistan will never accept any ‘unreasonable demand’ by India on Jadhavcase,” Foreign Office Spokesperson Zahid Hafeez Chaudhri said at a weeklypress briefing here at Ministry of Foreign Affairs, when asked if Pakistanwas considering any relaxation in laws to accommodate the Indian demands.
The spokesperson said there was no other option for India but to “cooperatewith Pakistani courts”, which only permitted appearance of locallyregistered lawyers before the bench.
The case of Indian serving navy commander is under trial at the IslamabadHigh Court after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in its verdictasked Pakistan for a “review and reconsideration” of death sentenceannounced by the military court.“Pakistan remains committed to the implementation of IHC judgment,” he said.
Chaudhri confirmed that Pakistan had received a reply from India inresponse to the offer for a third consular on recommendation of the IHCearly this month. “However unfortunately, India still appears evasive onthe issue,” he said.The FO spokesperson said Pakistan had already given “uninterrupted andunimpeded” consular access to Jadhav and was ready to extend the same infuture as well.
The FO spokesperson strongly condemned the recent statement by Indian Chiefof Defence Staff Gen Bipin Rawat, saying Pakistan could suffer “heavylosses for any misadventure if it took advantage of Ladakh situation”.“Such belligerent statements from senior military leadership of Indiaprovide insight into how the BJP-RSS mindset – a dangerous mix of extremistideology, hegemonic ambitions and obsession with Pakistan, has permeatedIndian state institutions,” he said.
Zahid Chaudhri said India’s defence capabilities had been “embarrassinglyexposed to the world not far ago.
“Unfortunately, the Indian government in response to any geopolitical,economic or military setback, instead of learning from its mistakes andinstituting course correction, simply doubles down on its miscalculationand bellicose rhetoric.”He said rather than “whipping up anti-Pakistan sentiments”, the Indianleadership must focus on peaceful resolution of outstanding disputes,particularly the Jammu and Kashmir dispute as per international law and therelevant United Nations Security Council resolutions.
“As for Pakistan and China cooperation, we are ‘all-weather strategiccooperative partners’ and remain committed to promoting peace, stabilityand development in the region,” he said.
On India’s demand to the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) to removethe Jammu and Kashmir dispute from the Council’s agenda, the spokespersonsaid the “ill-conceived Indian move” ahead of the 75th session of the UNGeneral Assembly later in the month was another desperate but pointlessattempt by the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) regime to find an escape fromits global condemnation.
“The ‘India-Pakistan Question’ is one of the oldest items on the agenda ofthe UN Security Council and the outstanding question remains on theSecurity Council’s agenda since India has never implemented the SecurityCouncil resolution concerning Jammu and Kashmir dispute,” he said.
He said by denying the Kashmiris their inherent and inalienable right toself-determination as enshrined in the UN Security Council resolutions,India was in continued violation of its international obligations.The FO spokesperson said in attempts to divert the world attention from itsegregious human rights violations in the Indian Illegally Occupied Jammuand Kashmir, India continued to resort to indiscriminate and unprovokedfiring along the Line of Control, targeting innocent civilians.
During the current year alone, India had committed 2,199 ceasefireviolations to date, resulting in 17 martyrdom and serious injuries to 171civilians, including women and children, he added.