The International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague will deliver its order on Thursday on the jurisdiction of the international court in the Kulbhushan Jadhav’s case as well as on India’s plea to stay his death sentence in Pakistan. The order will be delivered at 3.30 pm India time.
The single round of oral observations on India’s request took place on Monday at the Peace Palace in The Hague, the seat of the ICJ. During his pleadings, counsel for India Harish Salve had requested that pending final judgement in this case, the ICJ should indicate Government of Pakistan to take all measures necessary to ensure that Jadhav is not executed and “no action is taken that might prejudice the rights of the Republic of India or Kulbhushan Sudhir Jadhav with respect to any decision the Court may render on the merits of the case.” India had urged that Pakistan must report to the court on the action it has taken.
India had listed out several procedural lapses made by Pak under the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations (VCCR), 1963 saying it amounted to human rights violation of the person arrested on a foreign soil.
Pakistan, however, had rejected India’s allegation and said the ICJ has no jurisdiction over Jadhav’s case as his arrest was linked to an act of terrorism. Pakistan had asked the ICJ to reject India’s request for the indication of provisional measures.
Significantly, the ICJ had refused to see a six-minute video clip of Rs confessional statement’ by Jadhav that Pakistan wanted to use as a proof to bolster its arguments on Jadhav being an Indian spy.
Jadhav was arrested on March 3, 2016, and sentenced to death by a Pakistani military court on charges of espionage and subversive activities. India has argued that Jadhav was kidnapped from Iran.