Dinesh Kamath's Editorial 'Will Pakistan respect ICJ’s orders?' that was published in Newsband

Will Pakistan respect ICJ’s orders?

Sentenced to death by a military court after what was a summary and arguably bogus trial, Kulbhushan Sudhir Jadhav is in imminent danger of execution. New Delhi’s position is that Jadhav is innocent and that he was “kidnapped” by Pakistani agents from Iran. India  has moved the International Court of Justice.

However, this is not the first time that India has approached the world court against Pakistan. In 1971, it wanted the ICJ to decide the limited question whether the Council of the International Civil Aviation Organisation had the jurisdiction to question India’s suspension of overflight rights to Pakistani aircraft. India has every claim to approach the ICJ to protect the life and rights of its nationals. Now Pakistan’s adherence to international law will be under test.

India must save Jadhav at any cost because he is an army man, who crossed the border with the true intension of probing into terrorism instead of espionage.

Bilateral talks will achieve little. India must move every organisation like the ICJ, UN, EU in order to save Jadhav. Pakistan should realise that hanging an Indian soldier does not solve either Kashmir problem or border crisis. Only talks on both sides can help in improving situations. The attempt of avenge may further complicate the problem leading to loss of lives on either side

The Pakistani government states that Jadhav is a serving commander in the Indian Navy who was involved in subversive activities inside Pakistan, and was arrested on 3 March 2016 during a counter-intelligence operation in Balochistan. The Indian government recognises Jadhav as a former naval officer, but denies any links with him and maintains he took premature retirement and was possibly abducted from Iran.

 According to reports in the Pakistani media, Jadhav joined the Indian National Defence Academy in 1987 and was commissioned in the engineering branch of the Indian Navy in 1991. After the 2001 attack on the Parliament of India, he started gathering information and intelligence within India. After 14 years of service he allegedly entered into intelligence operations in 2003, and established a small business in Chabahar in Iran. From Chabahar, he made several undetected visits to Pakistan, where his activities were confined to Karachi and Balochistan.

According to the Pakistani government, on 3 March 2016, Jadhav was arrested inside Balochistan in Mashkel near the border region of Chaman, having made illegal entry into Pakistan via Iran. He was arrested during a counterintelligence raid conducted by security forces. Pakistani security forces reported Jadhav as a serving officer in the Indian Navy and asserted that he was commissioned to the Research and Analysis Wing, India's external intelligence agency. They believed him to be involved in subversive activities in Balochistan and Karachi. Jadhav was shifted to Islamabad for interrogation.

India has rejected the video confession. Union Minister Kiren Rijiju claimed that it is a completely doctored video, fake video made by Pakistan. They are just cooking up stories and doctoring videos to defame India, he added.

On 10 April 2017, Jadhav was sentenced to death by a Field General Court Martial (FGCM) in Pakistan, following a confession before the magistrate and court. Jadhav's trial lasted three and a half months and the charges he was convicted for included spying for India, waging war against Pakistan, sponsoring terrorism, and destabilising the state.

The International Court of Justice late on 9 May, 2017 ordered a stay on the hanging of Jadhav. The order came a day after India approached the Hague-based ICJ against the death sentence handed down to Jadhav by Pakistan’s field general court martial in April.