Pakistan continues with the sham around ex-Indian Navy commander Kulbhushan Jadhav who is facing death charges his alleged espionage

Chief Justice of Islamabad High Court Athar Minallah will be heading the bench, reported Geo news.

On Monday, a lawyer will also be appointed for the beleaguered Indian national, who has been denied “unhindered, unimpeded and unconditional Consular access by India” despite several requests.

This apart, documents related to Jadhav’s case have also been not provided to Islamabad-based Indian embassy officials by Pakistani authorities.

“The whole exercise of not providing documents as requested by us, of not providing unhindered, unimpeded and unconditional Consular access, as well as, some of the reported unilateral action of recently approaching the High Court, all of it again exposes their complete farcical nature of Pakistan's approach. Pakistan has blocked all avenues for an effective remedy available to India,” Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said during a press briefing last week.

Earlier this week, the Pakistan government presented the International Court of Justice (Review and Reconsideration) Ordinance, 2020, in Parliament for approval. This legislation will pave the way for Jadhav to appeal his death sentence handed to him by a military court in 2017.

The ordinance will have an overriding effect as its provisions shall have effect notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained in any law for the time being in force, including the Pakistan Army Act 1952.

On July 22, the Pakistan government had approached the Islamabad high court to appoint a legal representative for the Indian spy.

The move was made in the background of July 17, 2019 decision of the International Court of Justice, following which the International Court of Justice (Review and Reconsideration) Ordinance, 2020 was enacted to implement the court’s verdict.