Pak to amend Army Act to allow Kulbhushan Jadhav appeal in civilian court: Sources

Pakistan plans to amend the Army Act, section 133 which will give Kulbhushan Jadhav right to appeal in a civilian court and opens the door for India to provide legal aid to him.

Section 133 of the Pakistani Army act provides provision for the appeal but only in a "Court of Appeals consisting of the Chief of the Army Staff..." or the court of appeals consisting of Brigadier or Major General but can't appeal in a civilian court.

Through the amendment, the verdicts of military courts would now be challenged at a civilian court within a time frame of 6 months, in the case of Kulbhushan Jadhav, his six months appeal time would start from the day of ICJ judgement and not his initial sentence that was on April 10th 2017.

There hasn't been any reaction from India since the amendment is still to take place, but it could be considered positive development in the case given that Pakistan still has to fully implement the International Court of Justice's order.

The amendment, if passed, will be a major reform process which can make Pak military court more transparent because the amendment opens the gate for others in Pak to appeal against Pakistan's military court's order and judgements.

On 26 April 2017, the High Commission of India in Islamabad transmitted to Pakistan, on behalf Jadhav’s mother, an "appeal" under Section 133 (B) and a petition to Pakistani government under Section 131 of the Pakistan Army Act. India received no information on the status of the appeal.

Earlier this year, New Delhi got a major diplomatic victory at the international court of justice with the world court calling Pakstan to "provide Indian consular officers access to him in accordance with Article 36 of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations".

On 2nd September, India got first consular access for Kulbhushan Jadhav in 3 years with Indian deputy high commissioner (DHC) Gaurav Ahluwalia in Islamabad meeting him for 2 hours.

The Indian diplomat found Jadhav under "extreme pressure to parrot a false narrative to bolster Pakistan’s untenable claims", according to release issued by India's Ministry of external affairs.