ICJ Rejects Indian Request for Six Months to File Plea in Jadav Case
Islamabad (June 16, 2017): The International Court of Justice (ICJ) has emphatically rejected India’s request for six more months’ time to file pleadings in Indian spy Kulbhushan Jadhav’s case and given till September 13, 2016 to do so.
It was learnt that if the ICJ had accepted India’s request then the case would have been delayed by more than 18 months, but now it would likely resume in mid-January.
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A meeting had taken place on June 8 between ICJ President Ronny Abrahim and delegations from India and Pakistan to discuss the timeline in Jadhav’s case. The ICJ’s registrar and other officials were also present during the meeting. The meeting lasted 45 minutes.
Jadhav, an Indian spy arrested from Balochistan last year, was awarded capital punishment by a military court in Pakistan on April 10 for ‘fomenting terrorism in Balochistan and Karachi’. However, his execution was stayed on May 18 by the ICJ on India’s request.
The delegation from Pakistan was led by the Attorney General for Pakistan Ashtar Ausaf Ali. Other members of the delegation included Foreign Office (FO) Director General for South Asia Dr Muhammad Faisal, FO’s Head of International Disputes Unit Ahmad Irfan Aslam and Pakistan’s counsel Khawar Qureshi.
Likewise, the AGP had opposed India’s request to give it six months for filing pleadings during the meeting on June 8. He had objected on the grounds that India already had a full year to prepare for the case.
Sources revealed that Pakistan in its pleadings will be filing a dossier on various violations of human rights by India in the past to highlight its lack of respect.
“It will also be providing evidence of terror-financing network which was penetrated and broken because of information and confession made by Jadhav,” they further informed.
A senior lawyer, who has expertise in international law, contends that India can never obtain acquittal or release of Jadhav on the basis of its application.
Sources told Abb Takk News that the government is considering the names of senior jurist Makhdoom Ali Khan, former chief justices Tassaduq Hussain Jilani and Nasirul Mulk, and former Jordan prime minister Awn Al-Khasawneh for appointment as ad hoc judge. In Pakistan’s history, only former foreign minister Barrister Zafarrullah was appointed as ICJ judge in 1954.
A senior lawyer, with vast experience of international arbitration, believes that it was necessary to revamp the legal wing of the Foreign Office because it failed to give proper advice to deal with Jadhav’s case. Lawyer Khawar Qureshi is giving arguments on behalf of Pakistan in Jadhav’s case.
Kulbhushan Jadhav Case: A Timeline, From Arrest to Stay
(Compiled By: Majid Siddiqui): Kulbhushan Jadhav was arrested in Pakistan by counter-terrorism officials for working as a spy for the Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW). Today, the International Court of Justice has pronounced its verdict on Jadhav’s fate. Here is a timeline of how the events unfolded.
March 03, 2016
Indian national Jadhav arrested on the charges of terrorism and sabotage by Pakistan on Iran border.
March 24, 2016
Pakistani army claims Jadhav is a R&AW agent and was picked up from Saravan, which is near Pakistan-Iran border to the south east of Zahidan.
March 26, 2016
* Pakistan summons Indian High Commissioner and releases statement lodging protest on “the illegal entry into Pakistan by a R&AW officer and his involvement in subversive activities in Balochistan and Karachi.”
* India, in response, said,”Kulbhushan Jadhav has no links with Government as he retired from Navy in 2002″.
* India was denied consular access.
March 29, 2016
* Pakistan releases Jadhav’s confession statement video.
* In the video, Jadhav is seen as saying that he is a serving Indian Navy officer and operative of the R&AW.
* India while questioning the legitimacy of the confession video alleges that Pakistani authorities may have used third degree techniques to get a tutored statement.
April 2016
Balochistan’s provincial government files an FIR against Jadhav on charges of terrorism and sabotage.
December 7, 2016
Pakistan Prime Minister’s advisor on foreign affairs Sartaj Aziz admits “not enough evidence” was provided on Jadhav.
December 31, 2016
* Pakistan claimed that it would hand over a dossier on Indian national Jadhav to UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres.
* Pakistan also said evidence of India’s attempt made to violate maritime boundary.
March 3, 2017.
* Aziz affirms to Pakistan senate that Jadhav will not be extradited to India under any circumstances.
* India takes serious note and asks Pakistan to follow well-established international practice while dealing with foreign nationals in its custody.
April 10, 2017
* Pakistan’s military establishment announced that Jadhav would be hanged.
* Decision after a “military court” found him guilty of “espionage and sabotage”.
* The move that quickly raised tensions between the nuclear-armed countries.
* India slams the decision and sends a demarche to Pakistan’s high commissioner Abdul Basit stating that Jadhav was “kidnapped last year from Iran”, and his trial was “farcical” in the absence of any evidence against him.
May 10, 2017
* Shortly after India approached it against Pakistan, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) has reportedly asked Pakistan not to act on Kulbhushan Jadhav’s execution.
* ICJ announced that it will listen to India and Pakistan’s arguments in the Jadhav case at a public hearing on May 15.
May 15, 2017
* At the ICJ hearing, India demanded the immediate suspension of Kulbhushan Jadhav’s death sentence, expressing fears that Pakistan could execute him even before the the court gave its verdict.
* “The execution of the death sentence cannot be done, while this court is hearing the appeal. Else, it will be a violation of the Vienna Convention,” senior advocate Harish Salve told the ICJ.
* Pakistan accused India of using the court as the “scene of political theatre” and its appeal against Jadhav’s death sentence was “unnecessary and misconceived”.
* Pakistan further contended that the Vienna Convention provisions on consular access were not intended for a “spy” involved in subversive activities.
May 18, 2017
* International Court of Justice stays death sentence given to KulbhushanJadhav by Pakistani military court until further notice.
* “Pakistan shall take all measures at its disposal to ensure Kulbhushan Jadhav is not executed pending final decision by the court,” said judge Ronny Abraham.
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