India hopes Pak’s ICJ stand won’t weaken case

NEW DELHI: India hopes Pakistan questioning the jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) will not weaken its prospects of getting relief for former naval officer Kulbushan Jadhav, who has been sentenced to death by a Pakistani military court on charges of espionage and sabotage.

The Indian hopes lie on the twin points that the case, a consular matter, is not about the compulsory jurisdiction of the ICJ over a matter. Then, it can also get around the possibility of Pakistan invoking clauses from a bilateral pact on consular access.

The ICJ, the judicial arm of the UN, will begin oral hearing on the case on Monday.

Pakistan had revised its declaration on compulsory jurisdiction on March 29, which spells out terms under which Islamabad accepts the ICJ on matters of dispute settlement.

While it could argue that Pakistan could have anticipated the possibility of India moving ICJ, informed sources said the ‘compulsory jurisdiction’ is not an issue here.

India moved the ICJ under 36 (1) of its statue, because both India and Pakistan are signatories to the Optional Protocol to the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations (VCCR). This international treaty has ICJ as the arbiter in disputes.

“In this case, India invokes the Optional Protocol of the VCCR. The bases for jurisdiction are separate from what happened in 1999 where in an Aerial Incident, ICJ upheld the Indian view on jurisdiction,” said a source. India also believes that the bilateral consular treaty with Pakistan will not be a factor here as Islamabad has been arguing that the treaty of 2008 exempts those case that are related to “national security”.