ICJ rules in India’s favour, asks Pak to stay execution of Jadhav

In a big relief for India, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on Thursday asked Pakistan to hold off the execution of Indian national Kulbhushan Jadhav until the court delivered its final verdict in the case.

“The Court indicates to the Islamic Republic of Pakistan that it must take “all measures at its disposal” to prevent the execution of an Indian national, Mr Kulbhushan Sudhir Jadhav, pending final judgment of the Court,” the ICJ said.

Exercising its powers under Article 41 of the ICJ Statute, the World Court asked Pakistan to take provisional measures, as requested by India, to comply with the Court’s ruling. Judge Ronny Abraham informed that the bench had taken a “unanimous decision” to grant temporary relief to Jadhav, who was arrested by Pakistan’s security agencies on March 3 last year.

“Pakistan should also inform the Court of the measures it has taken to implement the Court’s order,” the ICJ said.

The Court also squashed Pakistan’s argument that there was no immediate danger to Jadhav’s life, as it noted that Islamabad hadn’t indicated a date of execution of Jadhav, who was sentenced to death by a military court on April 10 this year.

Article 41 of the ICJ Statute gives powers to the World Court to indicate provisional measures in a case, provided such measures are necessary to prevent irreparable prejudice to the rights invoked. India claims that its rights to consular access, under Vienna Convention, had been violated by Pakistan’s repeated denials to India to grant access to Jadhav.

The Court noted that under Pakistan’s laws, Jadhav could appeal his sentence until May 19, for which a petition had already been filed by Jadhav’s mother on April 26. “But the Court is not sure if the petition for appeal had been accepted by Pakistani authorities,” the Court said.

Pakistan has claimed in the ICJ that it won’t execute Jadhav until August this year.

Vienna Convention applies

Judge Abraham said that, under Article 36(1) of the Vienna Convention, India had the right to seek consular access to Jadhav. This was another blow to Pakistan’s arguments, which had claimed that the Vienna Convention didn’t apply to “spies and terrorists.”

The Court said that, under Article 1 of Optional Measures, it had the power to rule in cases where there is a dispute in interpretation of the Vienna Convention.

The ICJ said that there was a dispute in deciding if India was helping out Pakistan in carrying out the investigation into the arrest of Jadhav.

Pakistan had reasoned that it was keeping India from accessing Jadhav since India wasn’t cooperating in investigation.