India, Pak to clash at ICJ

Till Sunday evening, Pakistan was yet to take a clear stand on its participation in the crucial International Court of Justice (ICJ) hearing on Kulbhushan Jadhav that will take place on Monday at The Hague. Mr Jadhav, a former Indian naval officer, had been sentenced to death about a month ago by a Pakistani military court on grounds of espionage and sabotage. India has contested the move and dragged Pakistan to the ICJ on May 8 for refusing consular access to Mr Jadhav and for violating the Vienna Convention on consular relations.

Both countries had last clashed at the ICJ 18 years ago, with the previous instance relating to shooting down of Pakistan’s maritime reconnaissance aircraft Atlantique by the IAF in the Kutch region on August 10, 1999, killing 16 people on board shortly after the Kargil conflict. Pakistan claimed the plane was brought down in its air space and sought $60 million in damages but the court dismissed the claim. On March 29, Pakistan recognised ICJ’s jurisdiction but specified this would not apply to national security.

Pakistan treats the Kulbhushan Jadhav case as a matter of national security and this has triggered speculation that it may refuse to accept the ICJ’s jurisdiction in this case.

Senior lawyer Harish Salve will represent the government of India at the ICJ on Monday. The ICJ had last week stated that India “seeks the following reliefs: relief by way of immediate suspension of the sentence of death awarded to the accused, relief by way of restitution in interregnum by declaring that the sentence of the military court arrived at, in brazen defiance of the Vienna Convention rights, restraining Pakistan from giving effect to the sentence awarded by the military court, and directing it to take steps to annul the decision of the military court as may be available to it under the law in Pakistan...”