Saturday 22 April 2017

Indo-Pak delegation to meet Pak Consul General in Los Angeles
An Indo-Pak delegation to be led by me has got an appointment with the Pakistan Consul General in Los Angeles, California, USA on Monday, 24th April at 11 a.m.
In that meeting we shall be submitting to the Consul General a petition signed by a large number of people from several nationalities praying for clemency to Kulbhushan Jadhav, an Indian national who has been sentenced to death by the Pakistan army authorities.
We will request the Consul to forward the petition immediately to the Pakistan President and Prime Minister.
All those who wish to sign the petition online may contact Santosh Addagulla at his email id santosh.addagulla@gmail.com
Below is the petition I sent by email on 19.4.2017 to the Pakistan President and P.M.
To
1. His Excellency the President of Pakistan
2. His Excellency the Prime Minister of Pakistan
Islamabad
Your Excellencies,
I am writing to you to seek clemency for Kulbhushan Jadhav, an Indian national, who has been sentenced to death by a Pakistan Military Tribunal.
I do not know the facts of the case, so I will not comment on the merits.
I may, however, be permitted the liberty of referring to Portia's famous speech in Shakespeare's ' Merchant of Venice ' where she pleaded that justice should be tempered with mercy.
I may also quote a couplet of the celebrated Urdu poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz ( which I also quoted in my judgment in the Indian Supreme Court in Gopal Das vs. Union of India in which I pleaded for mercy to Gopal Das to the then Pakistan President & P. M. ) :
" Qafas udaas hai yaaron, saba se kuch to kaho
Kaheen to beher-e-khuda aaj zikr-e-yaar chale "
Yours respectfully
Justice Markandey Katju
former Judge, Supreme Court of India
Fremont, California, USA
18.4.2017

No comments:

Post a Comment