The Supreme Court on Tuesday asked the Centre to state within six weeks what steps had been taken to pursue the case of 54 Indian soldiers held as prisoners of war by Pakistan.
With a PIl seeking orders from the Court to direct Centre to agitate this cause before the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the bench headed by Chief Justice RM lodha was critical of the Government’s inaction to secure the release of Indian soldiers held by the neighbouring state for 40 years. “When a state subject is missing, state has to be concerned, more so when the person missing is from the Army,” said the bench, also comprising Justices Kurian Joseph and Rohington Nariman.
The Centre argued that the foreign policy of the Indian government did not allow it to refer the dispute to ICJ. “In a case previously where Pakistan took a matter to ICJ, we (India) had objected. Tomorrow Pakistan will take Jammu & Kashmir issue to ICJ.”
The Court asked Centre not to presume that Pakistan will not cooperate. It said that in the matter at hand, the Court had limited jurisdiction. However, it asked Centre, “To an issue as grave and sensitive as this, all options meritorious or otherwise must be explored so that you can achieve something.”