Stay on Kulbhushan Jadhav's death sentence: India moving ICJ is an attempt to divert attention, says Pakistan

Islamabad: India's decision to move the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to halt the death sentence awarded to alleged Indian "spy" Kulbushan Jadhav was an attempt to divert attention from "state-sponsored terrorism in Pakistan", Islamabad said on Friday.

Pakistan Defence Minister Khawaja M Asif tweeted: "Indian letter to ICJ attempt to divert attention from state-sponsored terrorism in Pakistan. Kulbushan convicted of offences against national security."

Indian letter to ICJ attempt to divert attention frm state sponsored terrorism in Pak.Kulbushan convicted of offences against Nat security — Khawaja M. Asif (@KhawajaMAsif) May 10, 2017

Earlier, news channel Times Now had quoted Pakistan Foreign Secretary saying in one of her tweets that the ICJ has crossed its limit in the Kulbhushan Jadhav sentencing case, which is unacceptable.

The reactions came shortly after the ICJ last night told Pakistan not to hang Jadhav, sentenced to death by a Pakistani military court on charges of promoting terrorism in its territory and spying for India.

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj had this morning confirmed the development through a tweet. 

"I have spoken to the mother of #KulbhushanJadhav and told her about the order of President, ICJ under Art 74 Paragraph 4 of Rules of Court," Swaraj said in a tweet.

She also said that legal luminary Harish Salve was representing the country on the matter.

In a statement issued on Tuesday, the ICJ said, "On 8 May 2017, the Republic of India instituted proceedings against the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, accusing the latter of blatant violations of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations' (hereinafter the aVienna Convention') in the matter of the detention and trial of an Indian national, Kulbhushan Sudhir Jadhav, sentenced to death by a military court in Pakistan." 

"The Applicant contends that it was not informed of Jadhav's detention until long after his arrest and that Pakistan failed to inform the accused of his rights," the statement said.

India had moved the court on Monday seeking a set of reliefs including "by way of suspension of the sentence of death awarded to the accused", and "restraining Pakistan from giving effect to the sentence awarded by the military court". 

It had also sought the sentence of the military court "arrived in brazen defiance of Vienna Convention rights" as well as the rights of the accused be declared violative of international law.

Citing "the extreme gravity and immediacy of the threat that authorities in Pakistan will execute an Indian citizen in violation of obligations Pakistan owes India", it urged the court to deliver an order indicating provisional measures immediately "without waiting for an oral hearing". 

Jadhav, a former Indian naval officer, was allegedly arrested in Balochistan in March 2016 and Pakistan said Jadhav worked for the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) fuelling the Baloch separatist movement and attempting to sabotage the CPEC project.

A military court sentenced him to death on April 10 on charges of espionage and waging war against Islamabad.

New Delhi had warned that if Jadhav was hanged, it would be considered "premeditated murder" by Islamabad.

Since Jadhav's alleged arrest in Pakistan in March last year, India sought consular access to him 16 times till this month but Islamabad refused to respond.

With PTI inputs