NEW DELHI: According to Pakistani media reports a three-judge bench of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Tuesday, adjourned the hearing of the government's plea to appoint counsel for Kulbhushan Jadhav till October 5 at the request of the Attorney General for Pakistan (AGP) Khalid Javed Khan.

The court also issued notice to the counsel of the Indian High Commission to appear before the court on the next date of hearing.

Jadhav, the 50-year-old retired Indian Navy officer, was sentenced to death by a Pakistani military court on charges of espionage and terrorism in April 2017.

India had approached the Hague based International Court of Justice (ICJ) in 2019 against Pakistan for denial of consular access to Jadhav and challenging the death sentence.

In July 2019 ICJ had ruled that Pakistan must undertake an 'effective review and reconsideration' of the conviction and sentence of Jadhav and also to grant consular access to India without further delay.

In its Tuesday order, the IHC said, "At this juncture, the court is conducting proceedings only to work out the way forward to implement the judgment of the ICJ."

"The present proceedings are being conducted to ensure that Commander Jadhav is provided with a fair opportunity to defend himself in the review proceedings to be carried out as ordered by the ICJ."

The court has also said that it was only trying to figure out a way to implement the ICJ order and it needs to be brought to the attention of India so that it may enter the appearance and express its reservations about procedure and methodology for implementation of the judgment.

It is alleged by the Pakistani government that Jadhav was arrested in the Pakistani province of Balochistan on charges of terrorism and spying for India's Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) in 2016, however, India has stated that he had been kidnapped from Iran and his subsequent presence in Pakistan has never been explained credibly.

On 10 April 2017, Jadhav was sentenced to death by a Field General Court Martial in Pakistan and in May 2017, the ICJ stayed the execution pending the final judgement on the case. ICJ has ruled that Pakistan will have to review the entire process of trial and conviction of Jadhav and provide India with consular access.