ISLAMABAD – Khawar Qureshi who is representing Pakistan in the KulbushanJadhav case in the International Court of Justice said on Monday thatevidence has been discovered that the Indian spy used his passport issuedby the Indian authorities to travel to and fro from India at least 17 times.
According to a local media reportlink,Qureshi was quoted as saying, “The inference is that India gave Jadhav thefalse Muslim identity for improper purposes. India’s answer has been to sayit does not need to answer this point.”
During his conversation with Newsweek, Khawar summarized a few key pointsof the case.
Khawar Qureshi says, “India says Jadhav recently retired from the IndianNavy and suggests he was kidnapped from Iran and smuggled into Pakistan toextract a false confession. India says the entire legal process against himin Pakistan was unfair, and demands that the ICJ at least orders hisacquittal or release. India says Jadhav should have been given immediateconsular access.”
“Pakistan says Jadhav was a naval commander who was working for Indian spyagency RAW when arrested. The ICJ has been asked to consider whetherindividuals suspected of espionage had in practice often been excluded fromthe right to a consular access-an argument never raised or consideredpreviously. The ICJ has now exceptionally invited all states that signedthe Vienna Convention on Consular Relations (VCCR) to respond to Pakistan’sargument on this point, which is based upon the material practice of theUS, Soviet Union and China, including the famous Gary Powers case (giventhe Hollywood treatment in The Bridge of Spies), as well as commentariesfrom experts in this field,” he said.
Replying to a question, he said: “I submitted on May 15, 2017, and repeat,the ICJ has never ordered acquittal or release (as India at least seeks),and all its previous decisions indicate it would never do so.”
On April 10, 2017, a military court passed a death sentence after hearingthe case and convicting Jhadav.
Jadhav was arrested in Balochistan and had entered Pakistan from Iran andwas carrying an Indian passport in the name of ‘Hussein Mubarak Patel’.
His confession was shared stating that he was a serving Indian navycommander seconded to RAW (the Indian intelligence’s Research and AnalysisWing), who was involved in crimes of espionage and terrorism directedtoward the infrastructure and people of Pakistan, including Gwadar port andCPEC facilities.
From March 25, 2016, onwards, India had sought consular access to Jadhav,which was earlier denied.
On May 8, 2017, India made an application to the ICJ arguing that Pakistanhad violated the VCCR by denying consular access and that the militarycourt trial/conviction was “flagrantly unfair”. India demanded that the ICJshould immediately make an order (without any hearing) that Pakistan shouldnot execute Jadhav pending the full hearing of India’s claims.
On May 18, 2017, ICJ stayed Jadhav’s execution through an interim order.