The parliamentary committee on National Security Tuesday rejected the federal government’s strategy to better plead the country’s case on Indian saboteur Kulbhushan Jhadav in the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and asked to better prepare a new plan of action and submit it to the next meeting on May 30.
A well-placed source told Pakistan Today that the opposition members came down hard over the Attorney General for Pakistan Ashtar Ausaf Ali during the meeting and raised tough questions over the government handling of the case in the preliminary hearing last week.
The source said that opposition lawmakers Dr Shireen Mazari and Sherry Rehman were properly prepared for the meeting and both were furious over the way the government lawyer and the ministry of foreign affairs had handled the issue.
The source said that Dr Mazari was of the view that the government was taken aback over the Indian move to take the matter to the ICJ and it remained asleep over the matter despite public assurances by Indian top cabinet members to rescue Jhadav.
Following the meeting, Speaker National Assembly Sardar Ayaz Sadiq told media that Parliamentary Committee on National Security on Tuesday decided that Pakistan would fight the Indian spy Kulbhushan Jadhav case at International Court of Justice (ICJ) with full preparation next month on 8th in Hague.
The speaker said all members of the committee discussed the case beyond their political affiliation. Judicial process of the case would be discussed again in next meeting of the committee on May 30.
During the meeting, Sadiq said the members gave their input and reviewed the station through a critical angle. He said no political talk was made during the meeting of the parliamentary committee on National Security.
The International Court of Justice at Hague in the Netherlands had put a stay on the death sentence of Kulbhushan Jadhav. Jadhav was awarded death sentence by Pakistani military court on the charges of spying and terrorism in the country.
Meanwhile, the government could not remove the reservations of the members of opposition over Jadhav’s case judicial process in ICJ. Members of the committee belonging to the opposition benches expressed dissatisfaction over government’s performance and briefing on Kulbhushan Jadhav’s case in the ICJ.
Sheikh Rasheed of Awami Muslim League while leaving the committee’s meeting said that Attorney General of Pakistan faced a critical question on the judicial process of the case of Jadhav in the international court.
The head of MQM-Pakistan Dr Farooq Sittar was also not satisfied over the briefing by the government. While responding to the questions of media persons after attending the meeting, he said it was the serious issue which was discussed during the meeting.
Attorney General of Pakistan briefed the members of the committee on the performance of Pakistani lawyers on the issue of Jadhav in the ICT.
Aftab Sherpao, PTI’s Shireen Mazari, ANP’s Ghulam Ahmed Bilour, Dr Farooq Sattar, Sherry Rehman, Saeed Mandokhel, Mushahid Ullah Khan, Zahid Hamid, secretary at Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Tehmina Janjua and others participated in the meeting.