No use taking Jadhav issue to ICJ: Indian media

KARACHI: Reports in the Indian media have acknowledged the futility of Delhi taking the matter of RAW agent Kulbhushan Jadhav to the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

Jadhav — nabbed by security forces from Mashkel, Balochistan in March last year — was recently sentenced to death by a military court in Pakistan on espionage and sabotage charges.

Indian analysts have commented in the media that the hearing of the Jadhav case — scheduled for May 15 — will not yield substantial results as “Pakistan had on March 29 revised its commitment to the ICJ and has withdrawn all domestic and national security related issues from the jurisdiction of the court”.

The declaration to the ICJ, made by Pakistan’s ambassador to the United Nations Maleeha Lodhi days before Jadhav’s sentencing, stated that issues related to its domestic sphere and national security issues would no longer be part of the ICJ jurisdiction, reported The Hindu.

Moreover, according to another Indian media report, Communist Party of India (Marxist) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury slammed the Indian government's move to approach the ICJ, calling it a 'diplomatic failure' of the [Narendra] Modi-led government.

Indian propaganda exposed

The Indian media on May 10 claimed that the ICJ had stayed Kulbhushan Jadhav’s death sentence.

However, those claims were laid bare when the ICJ announced no such thing, instead saying it will begin public hearings on the issue on May 15.

“The hearings will be devoted to the request for the indication of provisional measures submitted by India,” said a statement released by ICJ on Wednesday night.

Adviser to Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz said earlier on Wednesday that the Foreign Office was still analysing the Indian petition and the ICJ's authority on the case. 

The ICJ will hear India’s observations in the first session and that of Pakistan in the second session, according to ICJ's latest press release.

The hearing will be streamed live and on demand (VOD) on the ICJ’s website, as well as on the United Nations online television.

According to a press release issued on Tuesday from The Hague-based ICJ, India requested the United Nations' judicial organ to provide relief "by way of immediate suspension of the sentence of death awarded to the accused".

India contended that it was not granted consular access to Jadhav, which was in violation of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations. India also claimed that it learned about the death sentence by way of a press release.

Jadhav alias Hussein Mubarak Patel was arrested on March 3, 2016, in a counter-intelligence operation from Mashkel area of Balochistan. He later confessed to his involvement in espionage and sabotage actives in Pakistan.