By Chandrashekar Bhat
A PAKISTANI court has adjourned till October 5 the hearing of the government's plea to appoint a counsel for Indian death-row prisoner Kulbhushan Jadhav, according to a media report.
The Islamabad High Court, which on Tuesday adjourned the hearing at the request of attorney general for Pakistan, Khalid Javed Khan, also issued a notice to the counsel of the Indian High Commission to appear before the court on the next date of hearing.
At the previous hearing of the case on May 7, a larger bench of the high court gave India another chance to appoint a counsel for Jadhav by June 15.
Khan had told the court that India contends that the appearance of its consul before a Pakistani court to defend Jadhav would amount to submission to the jurisdiction of the court and would violate its ‘sovereign immunity'.
The Pakistan government last week rushed through the National Assembly a bill to provide the right of appeal to Jadhav, amid ruckus and boycott by the opposition. The bill is aimed at allowing Jadhav to have consular access in line with an International Court of Justice (ICJ) verdict.
Jadhav, a 50-year-old retired Indian Navy officer, was sentenced to death by a Pakistani military court on charges of espionage and terrorism in April 2017.
India approached the ICJ against Pakistan for denial of consular access to Jadhav and challenged the death sentence.
The Hague-based ICJ ruled in July 2019 that Pakistan must undertake an "effective review and reconsideration" of the conviction and sentence of Jadhav and also to grant consular access to India without further delay.
This photograph taken on April 28, 2026 shows a boy getting "thali", a sacred thread tied to his neck symbolising marriage to Hindu warrior god Aravan during the annual Koovagam transgender festival at the Koothandavar temple in Tamil Nadu's Kallakurichi district. For a few fleeting days each year, at the heart of the Koothandavar Temple where ostracised transgender community members from across India come to honour the Hindu deity Aravan, a tradition rooted in millennia-old Hindu texts -- and to enjoy a brief oasis of freedom.Getty Images
This photograph taken on April 29, 2026 shows a member of the transgender community mourning as a priest cuts the "thali", a sacred thread symbolising end of her marriage to Hindu warrior god Aravan during the annual Koovagam transgender festival at the Koothandavar temple in Tamil Nadu's Kallakurichi district. For a few fleeting days each year, at the heart of the Koothandavar Temple where ostracised transgender community members from across India come to honour the Hindu deity Aravan, a tradition rooted in millennia-old Hindu texts -- and to enjoy a brief oasis of freedom. Getty Images
