Tharoor hails government's approach to ICJ on Jadhav

Earlier Pakistan had rejected 16 consular access by India on Kulbhushan Jadhav

New Delhi, May 11: Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Thursday congratulated the government for approaching the International Court of Justice on Kulbhushan Jadhav, even as his party has expressed caution over the move.

"Congratulations to our government for deciding to pursue international action on Kulbhushan Jadhav. It was the best way," said Tharoor on his official Twitter account.
On Wednesday, the Congress said that approaching the ICJ on the issue of Jadhav might expose India to the 'risk' of Pakistan raising issues internationally and stressed that issues must be solved bilaterally. The ICJ has asked Pakistan to put on hold the death sentence on Jadhav.

Congress spokesperson Ajoy Kumar said on Wednesday, "Does it ever give Pakistan the right to question, and if that is what they are looking for to internationalise this issue, then India has to be careful about this."

"The best resolution between India and Pakistan can be discussed at bilateral level all the times irrespective of however intransigent and badly behaved Pakistan is," said Kumar.
He also asked if the government has thought through all the ramifications of its move on approaching the ICJ.

On May 10, It was a major victory for India as the International Court of Justice at The Hague stayed the execution of Kulbhushan Jadhav. The ICJ has written to Pakistan to put on hold the execution of Jadhav, the retired Indian Navy officer who was convicted of espionage by a military court in Pakistan.

Read the full application filed by India before the ICJ

The Republic of India institutes proceedings against the Islamic Republic of Pakistan and requests the Court to indicate provisional measures THE HAGUE, 9 May 2017. On 8 May 2017, the Republic of India instituted proceedings against the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, accusing the latter of 'egregious violations of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations' (hereinafter the 'Vienna Convention') in the matter of the detention and trial of an Indian national, Mr. Kulbhushan Sudhir Jadhav, sentenced to death by a military court in Pakistan.

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

It further alleges that, in violation of the Vienna Convention, the authorities of Pakistan are denying India its right of consular access to Mr. Jadhav, despite its repeated requests.

The Applicant also points out that it learned about the death sentence against Mr. Jadhav from a press release. India submits that it has information that Mr. Jadhav was "kidnapped from Iran, where he was carrying on business after retiring from the Indian Navy, and was then shown to have been arrested in Baluchistan" on 3 March 2016, and that the Indian authorities were notified of that arrest on 25 March 2016.

It claims to have sought consular access to Mr. Jadhav on 25 March 2016 and repeatedly thereafter. According to the Applicant, on 23 January 2017, Pakistan requested assistance in the investigation of Mr. Jadhav's alleged "involvement in espionage and terrorist activities in Pakistan" and, by a Note Verbale of 21 March 2017, informed India that "consular access [to Mr. Jadhav would] be considered in the light of the Indian side's response to Pakistan's request for assistance in [the] investigation process".

India claims that "linking assistance to the investigation process to the grant[ing] of consular access was by itself a serious violation of the Vienna Convention".

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