Pakistan on Thursday said the ruling by the International Court of Justice in the case of Kulbhushan Jadhav, the Indian national sentenced to death by a military court for espionage, did not change the status of the case even as Opposition party leaders attacked the government’s handling of the matter at The Hague.
The UN court has ordered Pakistan not to execute Mr. Jadhav pending the outcome of a case filed by India.
Islamabad said it attended the hearing out of its respect for the court and driven by the conviction that the challenge can be made via appearance and not by abstaining from the process. “Pakistan attended because of its conviction that the only way to resolve all outstanding issues is through peaceful means. We are confident that India would not be able to hide the subversive activities it is trying to carry out through its agents like Commander Jadhav,” stated an official statement by the Attorney General’s office.
The AG’s office interpreted the interim order by ICJ as maintaining the status quo in the case. “The court has clearly underscored that the provisional measures are without prejudice to the final determination of the merits and jurisdiction of the case.”
It added: “These provisional measures have no bearing whatsoever on the final decision of the court.”
New legal team
Sartaj Aziz, senior adviser to Prime Minister, said the government will constitute a new legal team to fight the case. Responding to the criticism by opposition parties, he said Pakistan could not have abstained from the hearing as any such move would have given advantage to India.
Meanwhile, Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf slammed Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif for the adverse ICJ ruling. “Pakistan sent a junior lawyer, totally unprepared to defend our case. This spineless government is incapable of standing up to India’s aggression,” PTI leader and member the National Assembly from Islamabad, Asad Umar, tweeted after the ruling.
Justice (retired) Tariq Mehmood, former President of Supreme Court Bar Association, said the ICJ’s decision is a provisional relief. “I am not surprised by the ICJ decision as we need to understand that death penalty is not liked internationally, which is reflected in the decision. But the final decision will be made after arguments on the merits and maintainability and I must say our lawyer has made very valid arguments.”
