ISLAMABAD: Newly-minted Law Minister Farogh Nasim denied that the federal government had passed an ordinance to give Indian spy Kulbhushan Jadav a reprieve from this death sentence.

Speaking in the National Assembly on Friday shortly after taking oath as the law minister for the third time since 2018, Nasim said there were some important dates regarding the case.

On March 3, 2016 Kulbhushan Jadav was arrested in Balochistan, he said, adding that the federal government at the time made the decision not to give him consular access.

On May 8, 2017 India took the matter to the International Court of Justice and on July 17, 2019 the ICJ said Pakistan must review the death sentence it awarded the RAW agent and provide him consular access.

It did not, however, approve India’s request for Jadav to be freed, he said.

Pakistan then enacted the International Court of Justice (Review and Reconsideration) Ordinance, 2020 in light of this verdict. It is not an NRO, clarified Nasim, who said that was what former dictator Pervez Musharraf brought in.

If Pakistan does not provide consular services, India will raise hue and cry in the international community, he said, adding that it will go to the UN Security Council and back to the ICJ.

By bringing in this ordinance Pakistan has cut off India’s hands, he said. Pakistan cannot exit the ICJ, he told his fellow parliamentarians.

But he clarified that under this ordinance, no sentences can be waived. The opposition raised concerns that they should have been consulted before the ordinance was drafted, said the law minister. It’s not written anywhere that we have to ask them before bringing in an ordinance, he said.

No one wrote the ordinance under a pillow, he said, referring to the fact that it wasn’t done in secret. “If there was a clause allowing the waiving of sentences, I would stand with you in protest.”

India must have prepared to go to the ICJ again if Pakistan doesn’t adhere to the ICJ verdict, he said.

Under the International Court of Justice (Review and Reconsideration) Ordinance, 2020, Jadav only has a short period of time left to file a reconsideration appeal. So far, neither Jadhav nor the Indian government through its high commission in Islamabad have filed a petition.