Its India v/s Pakistan again, ICJ holds public hearing of Kulbhushan Jadhav commencing today

New Delhi, February 18: As the strained relations between India and Pakistan rise, the public hearing in the Kulbhushan Jadhav case will commence from Monday before the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the principal judicial organ of the United Nations, at the Peace Palace in The Hague. The hearings at the ICJ is taking place four days after the dastardly act of Pakistan backed JeM attacking CRPF jawans.

 

Kulbhushan Jadhav, a retired Indian Navy officer, was sentenced to death by a Pakistani military court on charges of espionage and terrorism in April 2017. The hearings at the ICJ will take place four days after one of the worst terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir that killed 41 CRPF soldiers.

Kulbhushan Jadhav was apprehended on March 3, 2016 after illegally crossing into Pakistan from Iran, according to Pakistani officials. Indian officials say he was abducted from Iran and taken to Pakistan against his will. The first round of oral arguments will take place on February 18, when India will argue from 10 am to 1 pm. Pakistan will put forth their first round arguments on February 19, from 10 am to 1 pm.

Both India and Pakistan have already submitted their detailed pleas and responses in the world court.

Kulbhushan Jadhav’s sentencing had evoked a sharp reaction in India. India had approached the ICJ for “egregious” violation of the provisions of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, 1963, by Pakistan in Jadhav’s case. Pakistan claims that its security forces arrested Kulbhsuhan Jadhav from restive Balochistan province on March 3, 2016 after he reportedly entered from Iran.

However, India has rejected Pakistan’s contention that Jadhav was involved in espionage and subversive activities and said that he was kidnapped by Pakistani intelligence operatives from the Iranian port of Chabahar, where he was running a business.