Hague: The International Court of Justice (ICJ) told the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) that Pakistan violated the Vienna Convention by denying consular access to India in the Kulbhushan Jadhav case.
The ICJ President Judge, Abduylqawi Yusuf told the UNGA that Pakistan had violated Article 36 of the Vienna Convention. The Islamic nation is accused of wrongly stating that consular access to prisoners caught for espionage does not come under the Vienna Convention.
The ICJ presented the report to 193 strong UNGA, yesterday, and elaborated on several aspects of the court’s ruling.
The President Judge said that the ICJ looked if the Vienna Convention contained references to espionage cases. The ICJ, however, found that there was no reference in the Convention that denies consular access to prisoners caught in espionage case. Therefore, the Article 36 was applicable in Kulbhushan Jadhav case and so Pakistan had violated it.
The court also examined the fact that Pakistan had notified India about the arrest of Jadhav three weeks later. This is also in violation of the Vienna Convention.
The ICJ also had to look into the bilateral agreement between India and Pakistan in 2008 had excluded the provisions of Vienna Convention. The court came to the conclusion that any bilateral agreement between the two countries must only extend the scope of the provisions of the Vienna Convention. Any bilateral agreement cannot displace the provisions under Article 36 of the Vienna Convention.
The court also told the UNGA that it had also ordered effective review and reconsideration of Kulbhushan Jadhav must be made.
Pakistan had arrested former Navy officer Kulbhushan Jadhav and accused him of espionage. He was given the death sentence by a military court in Pakistan and denied consular access to India.
India took the matter to ICJ and won the case with 15 to 1 where majority of the judges favouring India’s position that Pakistan violated the Vienna Convention.
