India to submit ‘memorial’ to ICJ relating #KulbhushanJadhav case today; a plea declaring Pakistan as ‘violator’

New Delhi, September 13: The Kulbhushan Yadav case, which was the brewing news from May to June, has returned back. As we last know, International Court of Justice had asked India to handover the written arguments on September 13. The written arguments, also known as ‘memorial’ will be submitted today, a plea to declare Pakistan as violator of international law for sentencing former Indian Naval officer to death. 

 

Ministry of External Affairs official will reach Netherlands in order to hand over a hard copy of India’s memorial to the ICJ around noon on Wednesday. New Delhi is expected to highlight the denial of consular access to Jadhav which is a violation of the Vienna Convention. Pakistan has rejected India's request for consular access 18 times.

It all began on May 15 when India and Pakistan appeared before the ICJ to present their oral arguments in the matter; India made the case for provisional measures, while Islamabad’s counsel argued against on a variety of grounds but primarily by questioning the court’s jurisdiction in the dispute.

On May 18, the ICJ ruled that Pakistan’s argument that the court did not have jurisdiction was not valid. It pointed out that the VCCR does not allow a state to exclude a foreign national accused of spying from the right to consult with diplomats from his or her country. The court also observed that the “existence of a 2008 bilateral agreement between the parties on consular relations does not change its conclusion on jurisdiction”.

After the entire debacle at the international front, the Court issued a stay at Jadhav’s execution, asking Pakistan to “take all measures at its disposal” to ensure that he “is not executed pending a final judgment of the court” in the case.

The ICJ had given time to India to submit its memorial until September 13 while Pakistan’s deadline for filing its counter-memorial is December 13. The final ruling will depend on the ICJ’s decision on Kulbhushan Jadhav. Until then, we all have to buckle up and wait for the court’s order.