Victory for India as ICJ stays Jadhav execution till final order

New Delhi, May 18
In what is a setback for Pakistan and a diplomatic victory for India, the International Court of Justice at The Hague on Thursday stayed the Kulbushan Jadhav execution till the final verdict.
The court agreed that there is urgency in the case, in keeping with India’s arguments.
Pakistan would take all measures at its disposal that Jadhav was not executed till the final decision of the court was reached, it said.

The circumstances of Jadhav’s arrest remain disputed, said the judge at the ICJ as the court started reading out the verdict.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed satisfaction at the order of the International Court of Justice.

He spoke to External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj to thank her and appreciated the efforts of advocate Harish Salve who represented India in the case, official sources said.

The court agreed that the counsellor access was denied to Jadhav and Pakistan went against the Vienna Convention. The ICJ ruled that it had jurisdiction in the case.
The rights invoked by India under the Vienna Convention were plausible, said ICJ Judge Ronny Abraham.
Earlier, India and Pakistan on Monday had argued their case at the ICJ and exchanged sharp words over Jadhav, an Indian national sentenced to death by a Pakistani military court for allegedly being a spy.
While New Delhi had said the Vienna Convention on Consular Access had been violated as its envoys were not allowed to meet Jadhav, Islamabad claimed its provisions were not intended for a “spy involved in terror activities”.
India had made its observations first and was represented by senior lawyer Harish Salve, who harped on the urgency of the situation: “The situation is grave, it is urgent and, hence, we approached this court at such short notice.”
Later, Pakistan counsel Khawar Qureshi had refuted India’s allegations of violating the Vienna Convention. It sought to draw attention to the 2008 pact between the two nations that India was referring to as “irrelevant”.
“Jurisdiction under the Vienna Convention is limited by the 2008 agreement… Pakistan has no desire to waste the court’s time and resources to score political points,” Qureshi had said.
In statements that were caustic in their nature, Pakistan hit out at India, saying it had stuck to its position that Jadhav was indeed a “spy” and a “terrorist” arrested from the restive Baluchistan region in 2016.
India has accepted that Jadhav was a former Indian naval officer, but denied charges of espionage levelled against him.