ICJ rejects Indian plea seeking six-months for filing reply in Jadhav's case

ISLAMABAD: The International Court of Justice (ICJ) has turned down India’s plea to allow time for filing memorial (detailed submissions) in the Indian spy Kulbhushan Jadhav’s case until December and ordered India to submit a reply by September 13 instead.

This was stated by Attorney General (AG) Ashtar Ausaf Ali – who is representing Pakistan in Kulbhushan Jadhav’s case at ICJ – while talking to media in Islamabad.

The attorney general said that the ICJ has informed Pakistan of their decision through a letter. “The court has rejected India’s request for time to submit a response until December,” the AG said.

He said that India had adopted a stance that the matter was of a person’s life and death [while seeking more time to submit a reply]. “But Pakistan contended that the UN’s highest legal body is not a court of appeals,” the AG asserted.

“The world tribunal is supposed to decide on giving the convicted spy consular access. The ICJ has to conclude whether the convicted spy can receive consular access or not, for which two or three months’ time period is more than enough to file a response,” he opined.

Sources are of the opinion that Pakistan will submit a counter-memorial to the ICJ in December.

It is worth mentioning here that the ICJ had halted the execution of Indian spy Kulbhushan Jadhav until the final decision of the court on May 18 this year.

“Pakistan shall take all measures at its disposal to ensure that Mr Jadhav is not executed pending the final decision in these proceedings,” said the court’s president Ronny Abraham.

He also ordered Pakistan to inform the tribunal that it has implemented the decision.