Days after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) stayed Kulbhushan Jadhav's death sentence, Pakistan said yesterday that the Indian national would not be executed until he has exhausted his mercy appeals
Kulbhushan Jadhav
Days after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) stayed Kulbhushan Jadhav's death sentence, Pakistan said yesterday that the Indian national would not be executed until he has exhausted his mercy appeals.
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Foreign Office spokesman Nafees Zakaria released a statement aimed at addressing "certain misrepresentations/false statements/allegations" made in the Indian media following the ICJ's order of May 18 in the Jadhav case.
Zakaria asserted that irrespective of the ICJ's stay, Jadhav would remain alive, until he has exhausted the right to request for clemency, initially with the Chief of the Army Staff (COAS) and later with the Pakistan President.
He accused the Indian government of creating a "false impression of winning" Jadhav's case in the ICJ. "Indian media, backed by the official quarters, misled people in the two countries by propagating that India has won" in Jadhav's case, he said Zakaria said that the case concerns whether Jadhav is entitled to consular access. Asserting that Pakistan's position in this matter has been made clear, Zakaria said, "We had sought information from India" on January 23, 2017, on the basis of Jadhav's confession and statements.
"India has not responded despite reminders," he said.
He also said that in the three previous cases in the ICJ, the request for release or acquittal was not granted by the court, which stated that it does not have the power to give such orders. Zakaria said that the case is also about whether Jadhav is entitled to consular access because of the 1963 Vienna Convention on Consular Relations and not about whether the ICJ can act as a court of appeal for Pakistani legal proceedings.