Hague: India has argued strongly at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to annul the death sentence of Indian citizen Kulbhushan Jadhav and release him from a Pakistani jail today at Hague.
The Indian team led by ex-Solicitor General, Harish Salve said that Pakistan has not provided any “credible evidence” to show that Kulbhushan Jadhav was involved in any act of terrorism. He continued that Pakistan denied consular access and also used the confession document for propaganda purpose against India.
Harish Salve said that these actions from the part of Pakistan were in direct conflict to the spirit of the Vienna Conference.
He argued that “Article 36 of the Vienna Convention says that a country must be informed about the detention of its citizens but Pakistan did not inform India about his arrest. Without consular access, India has no information on what happened to Kulbhushan Jadhav in Pakistan.”
India had sent 13 reminders for consular access to Kulbhushan Jadhav in the spirit of the Vienna Convention but was met with cold shoulders by Pakistan.
The ex-Solicitor General also argued against military courts in Pakistan which were “opaque and secret”. It was a military court in Pakistan that had sentenced the Indian citizen to death for espionage.
He also argued before the 15-judge court that the military court which sentenced Kulbhushan Jadhav to death did not even satisfy “minimum standards of due process”.
Though Pakistan says that Kulbhushan Jadhav was arrested from Baluchistan for espionage, India claims that he was kidnapped from Iran while on a personal business trip.
Pakistan will begin their argument tomorrow. It will be followed by a second round of arguments on February 20 and 21.
