India, Pak in Hague face-off over Jadhav
India hopes for a positive outcome but braces for a complex legal tussle with Pakistan at the International Court of Justice on Monday to save the life of an Indian national accused of spying.
Rarely has India taken its issues with Pakistan to a multilateral forum but did so in the case of 46-year-old former naval officer Kulbushan Jadhav after a Pakistani court sentenced him to death for espionage and sabotage.
Senior lawyer Harish Salve will argue for India at The Haguebased court, which last week stayed the execution of Jadhav on India’s appeal. India argued that it approached the international court to save the life of an innocent man, who was not given consular access even after 16 requests.
Experts said India’s move to go to the ICJ, second time since 1971, was a sign of growing Indian confidence in facing multilateral fora. “Countries move the ICJ in a case by case manner,” said TCA Raghavan, former high commissioner to Pakistan, explaining how India’s confidence has grown in the 21st century.
For its part, Pakistan has questioned the jurisdiction of the ICJ in the Jadhav case.
But India hopes that the case, a consular matter, is not about the compulsory jurisdiction of the ICJ over a matter. It can get around the possibility of Pakistan invoking clauses from a bilateral pact on consular access.
On March 29, Pakistan had revised its declaration on compulsory jurisdiction, which spells out terms under which Islamabad accepts the ICJ on matters of dispute settlement.
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