The International Court of Justice (ICJ) has announced the final verdict on Kulbhushan Jadhav case which was much anticipated. ICJ has rejected Indian plea to release and to hand over Jadhav to India. The court added that the spy must be allowed consular access and ordered Pakistan for “effective review and reconsideration of the conviction and sentence,”.
The court said that Pakistan breached the articles of Vienna Convention by not allowing Indian diplomats to visit the under arrest spy in jail, however, all other allegations by the Indian side were rejected by the court. “It is not the conviction and sentence of Mr. Jadhav which are to be regarded as a violation of Article 36 of the Vienna Convention.” the court mentioned.
By rejecting the Indian claims, the decision of ICJ has proved that Jadhav was indeed an Indian Spy. The court has also asked Pakistan to review the death sentence by saying that, “Pakistan shall take all measures to provide for effective review and reconsideration, including, if necessary, by enacting appropriate legislation.”
Pakistani foreign office commented on the judgment that Pakistan is a responsible member of the International community and it will follow the judgment by the honorable court as per the law. The statement added that “Commander Kulbhushan Jadhav is responsible for acts of sabotage, espionage and multiple terrorist incidents in which scores of innocent Pakistani citizens were killed, resulting into umpteen women being widowed and numerous children becoming orphans. Commander Kulbhushan Jadhav has confessed to all these acts during his trial in a Pakistani court in front of a judicial magistrate. This is a clear case of Indian state terrorism.”
The 49 years serving commander of Indian Navy, Kulbhushan Sudhir Jadhav (aka Hussain Mubarak Patel) was arrested from Baluchistan on 3 March 2016 over the charges of plotting terrorism in Pakistan and spying for an Indian intelligence agency (RAW). While his trial in a military court, he confessed his involvement in the alleged matters and was sentenced to death by the court in 2017.