ICJ president seeks Pak's cooperation in Kulbhushan Jadhav case

The International Court of Justice (ICJ), the principal judicial organ of the United Nations, has sent an urgent communication to Pakistan from the office of its President under Article 74 for Islamabad and New Delhi's cooperation till a decision is reached on the death sentence case of former Indian naval officer and alleged spy Khulbhushan Jadhav.

Judge Ronny Abraham, the President of the ICJ, has forwarded the urgent communication to both Pakistan and India.

ICJ President Judge Abraham in his letter to Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, said, " In my capacity as President of the Court, and exercising the powers conferred upon me under Article 74, Paragraph 4, of the rules, I call upon the parties concerned ie. Your Excellency's Government, pending the court's decision on the request for provisional measures, to act in such a way as will enable any order the court may make on this request to have its appropriate effects."

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) will be holding public hearings in the Kulbhushan Jadhav case on May 15. Indian lawyer Harish Salve will argue the case of Kulbhushan Jadhav on New Delhi's behalf.

Pakistan was caught by surprise when India moved swiftly to ICJ and Islamabad received a midnight order that stayed the execution of Jadhav.

The development came after India instituted proceedings against Pakistan, accusing the latter of "egregious violations of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations" in the matter of detention and trial of Jadhav, and sought a stay on his death sentence.

Pakistan has denied consular access to Jadhav, who is an Indian citizen on 16 occasions. So, as per the Vienna Convention, India had to take recourse to one of the legal options available to it because both India and Pakistan are signatories to this additional protocol of the convention.

India earlier contended that it was not informed of Jadhav's detention until long after his arrest and that Pakistan had failed to inform the accused of his rights, an official release from the ICJ said.

India submitted that it had information that Jadhav was "kidnapped from Iran, where he was carrying on business after retiring from the Indian Navy and was then shown to have been arrested in Balochistan" on March 3, 2016, and that the Indian authorities were notified of that arrest on March 25, 2016.

-ANI