India's decision to approach the International Court of Justice (ICJ) against the death penalty awarded by a Pakistan military court to its former naval officer Kulbhushan Jadhav and the court's stay order on the sentence has clearly caught Pakistan unawares.
Calling the appeal option an illusory and worthless remedy, India said the adviser to the Pakistan PM on foreign affairs had clearly said on April 14 that all political parties were unanimous that Jadhav was a foreign spy given the death sentence on the basis of "overwhelming evidence" and that this was the right decision.
Pakistani nationals keen to travel to India for treatment will now need to submit letters of endorsement from their country's de-facto foreign minister Sartaj Aziz along with other documents and their visa applications, the foreign ministry here said.
According to a statement issued by ICJ on Tuesday, India filed a petition with the court urging it to suspend Jadhav's sentence and declare that it was arrived at "in brazen defiance of Vienna Convention rights".
Pakistan unsuccessfully moved the ICJ against India in 1999 after a Pakistani navy patrol plane was shot down in Indian air space over the Rann of Kutch.
India moved ICJ in the case after careful deliberations as he is in illegal detention in Pakistan and his life is under threat.
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India outrightly denied the claims, saying Jadhav was kidnapped from Iran where he was running a business, and adding he was a retired Navy officer.
He also asserted that "in previous years, thousands of medical visas have been issued to Pakistani citizens to come to India and benefit from the health facilities here".
Pakistan's civilian and military leaderships have held crucial discussions on the International Court of Justice (ICJ) order staying the execution of alleged Indian spy Kulbhushan Jadhav. Last month, a Pakistani military court sentenced him to death for spying. Jadhav was sentenced to death for "espionage and subversive activities". Pakistan, however, claims to have arrested him from Balochistan. "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", the International Court of Justice release said. "Your Excellency's Government, pending the court's decision on the request for provisional measures, to act in such a way as will enable any order the court may make on this request to have its appropriate effects".
It urged the Court "to declare the decision illegal being violative of worldwide law and treaty rights and restrain Pakistan from acting in violation of the Vienna Convention".
Earlier, Pakistan Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif in a tweet accused India of using Jadhavs death conviction to divert attention from its state-sponsored terrorism in the country.
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