NEW DELHI: Pakistan will submit a reply on the Kulbhushan Jadhav case in the International Court of Justice (ICJ) at The Hague on Tuesday, July 17.
“Pakistan’s 400-page reply — a rejoinder to India's last reply — has been prepared by a team of experts led by the attorney general,” reported Geo.tv, a Pakistani channel.
This is Pakistan's second counter-memorial response.
Retired Navy commander Kulbhushan Jadhav, 48, was sentenced to death by a Pakistani military court in April 2016, on charges of espionage and terrorism.
Following Jadhav's arrest and death sentencing, India had approached the ICJ to halt his execution. A 10-member bench of the world court on May 18 then restrained Pakistan from executing Jadhav till adjudication of the case.
The reply will reportedly be submitted by Foreign Office Director India Dr Fareha Bugti, who also submitted Pakistan's counter-pleading in December 2017.
On January 23, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) gave a timeline to both Pakistan and India for filing another round of memorials in the case. Pakistan's memorial is in response to pleadings filed by India in the Hague-based ICJ on April 17.
In its written pleadings, India had accused Pakistan of violating the Vienna Convention by not giving consular access to Jadhav arguing that the convention did not say that such access would not be available to an individual arrested on espionage charges.
In response, Pakistan through its counter-memorial on December 13 told the ICJ that the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations 1963 applied only to legitimate visitors and did not cover clandestine operations.
Pakistan had said that "since India did not deny that Jadhav was travelling on a passport with an assumed Muslim name, they have no case to plead." Pakistan said that India did not explain how "a serving naval commander" was travelling under an assumed name.
It also claimed that Jadhav is a "spy sent on a special mission" including espionage and funding of terrorists activities.
India has been maintaining that the trial of Jadhav by a military court in Pakistan was "farcical".
Pakistan claims that its security forces arrested Jadhav from restive Balochistan province on March 3, 2016 after he reportedly entered from Iran. However, India maintains that Jadhav was kidnapped from Iran where he had business interests after retiring from the Navy.
