Pakistan on Monday said India has failed to submit anything new before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in the Kulbhushan Jadhav case.
“India couldn’t come up with significant justification regarding passport of Jadhav. India failed to tell the court about arrival of Jadhav in Pakistan and the motive behind it,” Foreign Office Spokesperson D Faisal said in a statement. “India could not even explain as to how Kulbhushan Jadhav managed to get passport with a Muslim name and travelled at least 17 times on it to New Delhi,” he said.
The spokesperson said India also failed to present justifiable arguments on the retirement date of Kulbhushan Jadhav, if, according to their claim, he has actually retired from Indian navy. “They also failed to furnish any pension details of bank statements,” he added.
Jadhav was captured in Balochistan in March 2016. He confessed to his association with the Indian intelligence agency – Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) – and his involvement in espionage and fomenting terrorism in Pakistan. Pakistani officials say that Jadhav has been linked to 1,345 deaths in acts of terrorism in Pakistan, making secret trips to the country from Iran.
Subsequently, the 48-year-old was sentenced to death by a Pakistani military court on charges of spying and terrorism in April 2017. In May 2017, India moved the ICJ against the verdict.
The Indian counsel concluded his submissions before the ICJ at The Hague on Monday. A 15-judge bench including Somalian-Muslim Justice Abdulqawi Ahmed Yusuf and India’s Justice Dalveer Bhandari is hearing the case.
After introducing the case, President Justice Yusuf informed the audience that Pakistan’s former chief justice Tassaduq Hussain Jilani, who was an ad hoc judge in the case, is unable to attend the hearing for being unwell. Indian representative Harish Salve presented the arguments.
Barrister Khawar Qureshi (Queens Counsel) will argue on behalf of Pakistan. A delegation led by Attorney General for Pakistan Anwar Mansoor Khan and including Foreign Office Spokesperson Dr Faisal, Director Foreign Affairs Fareha Bugti, Pakistan’s Ambassador to Netherlands Shujjat Ali Rathore is in The Hague to present Pakistan’s case.
Indian Ministry of External Affairs officials Deepak Mittal, VD Sharma, S Senthil Kumar and Sandeep Kumar, and India’s Ambassador to Netherlands Venu Rajamony comprise India’s delegation at the ICJ.
Pakistan will make submissions on February 19 (today). The Indian side will submit reply on February 20 and Pakistan will make its closing submissions on February 21, 2019. The ICJ decision may be delivered by the summer of 2019.
Published in Daily Times, February 19th 2019.
