ISLAMABAD: International Court of Justice (ICJ) has dispatched a letter to Pakistan relating the court hearing pertaining to Indian spy Kulbhushan Jadhav’s death sentence after India took the matter of his death sentence to the international court, ARY News reported.
A Pakistani military tribunal has convicted Indian spy Jadhav to death after the court proceedings.
The international court will hold a hearing on the issue on coming Monday.
According to law experts, the matter could only be heard in the International Court of Justice when both countries mutually take a dispute to the court showing their consent. A Pakistani legal team has been inspecting the letter from the ICJ, sources said.
According to ARY News correspondent Shahid Metla, Indian media has constantly been propagating that stay of execution on Jadhav’s death sentence has been issued by the international court which is untrue and contrary to the facts.
The correspondent said Pakistan has raised questions on Jadhav’s subversion activities in the country, which results in arrest of a network of terrorists comprising 400 people besides the Indian spy having dual Indian identity cards and being a serving officer in Indian navy.
From Pakistani side, the Attorney General Ashter Ausaf Ali will attend the hearing in the international court.
The legal team reportedly preparing its reply and inspecting the legal issues and jurisdiction of the ICJ.
ICJ have no jurisdiction: experts
According to law experts, the matter could only be heard in the International Court of Justice when both countries mutually take a dispute to the court by showing their consent.
The lawyers are of the opinion that any country willing to raise any matter could approach the ICJ but the hearing could only be conducted after approval from both sides of the dispute.
The former president Supreme Court Bar and famed law expert Akram Sheikh has said that the international court lacks jurisdiction to hold hearing on Kulbhushan Jadhav’s death sentence.
He said that the ICJ’s stance is clear in this regard which requires the consent of both parties to seek the court hearing on an issue.
He said that Pakistan took the matter of the killing of 16 Navy personnel of the country to ICJ when Indian Jet fighters shot down a non-combat Pakistan Navy plane back in year 1999.
“It was sheer violation of International Laws”, said Sheikh, adding that Pakistan took the matter in the ICJ which refused to conduct hearing after India demonstrated reluctance.
It is pertinent to mention here that the Indian government has filed a petition in the international court on May 9 (Tuesday), seeking stay order in Kulbhushan Jadhav’s death sentence.
According to a press release issued by ICJ, India had instituted proceedings against Pakistan, accusing Pakistan of “egregious violations of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations” in the matter of the detention and trial of an Indian national, Mr. Kulbhushan Sudhir Jadhav.
Moreover, India has contended that it was not informed of Mr. Jadhav’s detention until long after his arrest and that Pakistan failed to inform the accused of his rights. It further alleged that, in violation of the Vienna Convention, the authorities of Pakistan are denying India its right of consular access to Mr. Jadhav, despite its repeated requests.
