Post the International Court of Justice (ICJ) stayed the death sentence given by Pakistan to alleged Indian spy Kulbhushan Jadhav, the defence experts on Wednesday praised the efforts put by the Indian Government into the matter and said that Pakistani Military Court had no jurisdiction over Jadhav.
“As a military veteran, I am very happy to hear that our country has taken Kulbhushan Jadhav’s case to the ICJ and that it has granted a stay upon the execution. The fact of the matter is that Pakistani Military court had no jurisdiction over him. He is not subject to the Pakistani Army act. He was denied consular access. In such circumstances, India’s only option was to go to the ICJ, which has taken due cognizance of what India has said and issued a stay order,” said defence expert GD Bakshi, reported TOI.
Significantly, the stay on the death sentence came after India began proceedings against Pakistan. The country accused the latter of “egregious violations of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations” in the issue of detention and trial of Jadhav. Eventually, India sought a stay on his death sentence.
India also pointed out that it was not told about Jadhav’s detention after his arrest. Pakistan also failed to inform the accused of his rights, reads an official release from the ICJ. India stressed that, Pakistan were denying its right of consular access to Jadhav despite its repeated requests too.
However, Pakistan claimed that Jadhav was detained from the Baluchistan province last year after which a military court sentenced him to death. It alleges that he was involved in espionage and anti-national activities. The neighboring country also claimed that Jadhav was “a serving officer in the Indian Navy.”
India denied the claims, saying Jadhav was abducted from Iran where he was running a business. It added that he was a retired Navy officer. Pakistan has refused 16 requests from India for consular access to Jadhav.
