Hauge [Denmark]: Attorney General for Pakistan Anwar Mansoor Khan on Wednesday hailed the verdict of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on Kulbhushan Jadhav, where the world court asked Islamabad to review death sentence awarded to Jadhav.
In a relief to India, ICJ asked Pakistan to review its order of death sentence awarded to Jadhav on alleged charges of espionage and conspiracy against Pakistan.
“Kulbhushan Jadhav remains in the custody of Pakistan. This is a clear win for us. Pakistan has, in fact, been very clear from the outset that it will consider the review and reconsideration, which is what the court has categorically stated,” Khan told media persons.
The court also granted Jadhav consular access holding Pakistan guilty of violating Vienna Convention.
Jadhav, 49, was purportedly “arrested” from Balochistan by Pakistani security forces on March 3, 2016, after he allegedly entered the country from Iran as claimed by Islamabad.
India has held that Pakistan, which faces several problems on its border with Iran, has been using Jadhav’s case to blame India for its problems in Balochistan. It has used proxy groups such as Jaish al Adl against Iran, while Iranian officials have spoken of Pakistan’s sponsorship of terror activities along Iran-Pakistan border.
It was on March 25, 2016, that then Foreign Secretary of Pakistan, Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry, had informed the Indian High Commissioner in Islamabad of Jadhav’s “arrest.”
Since then, Pakistan has not offered any explanation as to why Islamabad took over three weeks to inform the Indian High Commissioner about Jadhav’s arrest.
Jadhav was sentenced to death by a Pakistani military court on April 11, 2017.
Following this, India on May 8, 2017, approached the ICJ against Pakistan “for egregious violations of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, 1963” in the matter.
India alleged that Pakistan is in breach of Article 36(1) (b) of the Vienna Convention, which obliged Pakistan to inform India of the arrest of Jadhav “without delay”.