ISLAMABAD: The federal government's ordinance regarding Indian spy Kulbhushan Jadhav, which is scheduled to be laid in the National Assembly today (Friday) aims to give 'full effect' to last year's judgement of International Court of Justice (ICJ) regarding the Indian spy.
"In order to give full effect to the said judgement, it is necessary that a mechanism for review and reconsideration of Pakistan's own choice has to be provided. This can be done by law only, therefore, the bill is designed to achieve aforesaid objective," according to statement of objects and reasons of The International Court of Justice (Review and Reconsideration) Ordinance 2020 available with Business Recorder.
India initiated proceedings against Pakistan in ICJ, concerning alleged violations of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations 1963 in the matter of detention and trial of Jadhav, the Indian spy, who had been sentenced to death by a military court of Pakistan in April 2017. The spy was India's RAW (Research and Analysis Wing) operative, who facilitated numerous acts of terrorism in Pakistan, which resulted in the killings of countless innocent citizens of Pakistan.
The ICJ gave its judgement on July 17, 2019, wherein it observed, "Pakistan is under an obligation to provide, by means of its own choosing, effective review and reconsideration of the conviction and sentence of Mr Jadhav, so as to ensure that full weight is given to the effect of the violation of the rights set forth in Article 36 of the Vienna Convention, taking account of paragraphs 139, 145 and 146 of the judgement."
Meanwhile, the National Assembly was informed on Thursday that 50 per cent outstanding payments of the media during Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government's two-year tenure have been cleared.
Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Shibli Faraz told the House during question hour that the remaining 50 per cent will be cleared in a week time as Prime Minister Imran Khan has given special directions on the matter. He said the outstanding amount of the last two years was 1.15 billion rupees.
Faraz said the present government has not recruited any person in Pakistan Television except the top management to uplift the national broadcaster. He regretted that the government institutions were destroyed by previous governments through political appointments.
Parliamentary Secretary for Federal Education and Professional Training Wajiha Akram said a uniform curriculum for primary level has been finalized after consultations with the stakeholders for implementation from March next year. She said the move is aimed at ensuring quality education.
Parliamentary Secretary for Aviation Jamil Ahmad Khan expressed the confidence that the European Union will soon lift ban on the PIA (Pakistan International Airlines) flight operations to their countries. He said efforts are afoot to meet all their safety standards.
Federal Minister for Aviation Ghulam Sarwar Khan, in a written reply, said that PIA is facing heavy losses due to coronavirus pandemic. From April to June, 2020, PIA loss of revenue was recorded at Rs 10-11 billion per month and net loss by Rs 5-6 billion per month, he said.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2020