Jadhav case public hearing in ICJ today
The Hague, Feb. 17: Amidst fresh Indo- Pak tensions, top legal eagles of the two countries will present their arguments in the high- profile Kulbhushan Jadhav case before the International Court of Justice ( ICJ) here from Monday during four days of public hearings.
Jadhav, a retired Indian Navy officer, was sentenced to death by a Pakistani military court on charges of espionage and terrorism in April 2017.
India moved the ICJ in May the same year against the “farcical trial” by the military court of Pakistan against 48- yearold Jadhav. India first approached the ICJ on May 8, 2017 for the “egregious violation” of the provisions of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, 1963 by Pakistan by repeatedly denying it consular access to Jadhav.
A 10- member bench of the ICJ, which was set up after World War II to resolve international disputes, on May 18, 2017 had restrained Pakistan from executing Jadhav till adjudication of the case.
The ICJ has set a timetable for the public hearing in the high- profile case from Febraury 18 to 21 in The Hague.
The hearings at the ICJ will take place four days after one of the worst terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir that killed 41 CRPF soldiers.
The terror attack happened when a suicide bomber of Pakistanbacked Jaish- eMohammad ( JeM) blew up an explosive- laden vehicle near a convoy of CRPF buses in Pulwama district on Thursday.
India on Friday summoned the Pakistan high commissioner to issue a very strong demarche over the terror attack. On Saturday, India hiked the customs duty to 200 per cent on all goods imported from Pakistan.