ICJ verdict: Nothing is lost

• India has only achieved a momentary respite

Though the interim verdict by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) may have provided a temporary respite to India, it has provided Pakistan with an ample opportunity to unmask the real face of Machiavellian India which has been involved in state terrorism against Pakistan since partition in 1947.

Media assertions from India and Pakistan portray a wrong picture, suggesting as if the ICJ may direct Pakistan to set free Jhadav. The Indian case actually deals with its claim that Pakistan violated Vienna Convention for Consular Access to Jhadav. The ICJ can’t, however, rule on the fate of Jhadav.

It is about time that the people and state of Pakistan don’t lose faith in each other; rather than accusing each other, the civilian and military leadership should work in tandem to fight the case against Indian saboteur. Political bickering among our own politicians and point scoring would provide India with a sense of satisfaction, as their aim to divide and weaken the state of Pakistan is being achieved without much efforts.

The case in Pakistan against Commander Kulbhushan Jhadav is backed by undeniable evidence and valid points of law. This is something the people here need to remember and remind others lest India succeeds in making people completely lost in the riddle created on the humanitarian ground around the case of Jhadav to hide its exposed face of state involvement in terrorism against a sovereign state (Pakistan).

Pakistan’s case is strong enough and there is no need to buckle under the Indian media’s vicious propaganda. Granted the BJP government may have scored some political points on the domestic front, in its heart of hearts India knows that it has made a blunder by claiming ownership of its spy-cum-saboteur Kulbhushan Jhadav.

In my previous article published around 12 hours before the ICJ verdict, I had mentioned how the ICJ looked compromised for reasons best known to them to admit the Indian appeal and the unprecedented haste exhibited by ICJ’s managers.

Many saner elements in Pakistan knew well ahead of the decision that the ICJ panel—which included an Indian judge Dalveer Bhandari—would go against Pakistan. From the transcript on the ICJ’s website, it can be observed that 11 judges participated in the proceedings out of a total 15 judges’ panel.

Apparently, four judges chose to stay away as they may have felt uncomfortable being part of the scheme that does not behove an Institution meant to deliver justice without prejudice.

Even though Pakistan’s counsel did not raise an objection to the presence of the Indian judge on the premise of conflict of interest, the panel itself should have excluded the Indian judge. Moreover, the concerned judge of India should have recused himself in best judicial practices and norms. But Bhandari chose to stay on, and one cannot rule out the possibility that the Indian judge not only could’ve been biased but he may have also influenced his fellow judges in India’s favour.

It is about time that Pakistan should review its strategy and hire a new legal team to defend the case in the ICJ, which has ruled its jurisdiction over the case despite the fact that Pakistan had recently entered a Revised Declaration under Article 36(2) of the statute of the ICJ on March 29, 2017. India played on the humanitarian ground for a person who is responsible for numerous innocent human lives.

This amendment has further strengthened Pakistan’s position on the ICJ’s jurisdiction than its earlier declaration that was entered in 1960.

Though many clauses have been added to the earlier declaration, a new clause has excluded ICJ’s jurisdiction on “all matters related to the national security of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan”. Hence, the ICJ in the current case has no jurisdiction under Article 36(2) in my opinion.

On April 11, 2017, only a day after Jhadav was sentenced by Pakistan’s military court, Indian external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj publicly owned Indian hand in terrorist activities inside Pakistan through a RAW agent, Kulbhushan Jhadav, by calling Jadhav a “son of India”.

The minister had also warned Pakistan to “consider the consequences for bilateral relationship” if it proceeds on the matter. The minister vowed that India will go “out of the way” to save Jhadav—who was captured in Pakistan’s Balochistan Province in March 2016.

One may wonder why India was so frustrated to save Jhadav and why unprecedented measures were being adopted to save him. The answer lies in the confessional statement of Jhadav.

“My name is Commander Kulbhushan Jhadav and I am the serving officer of Indian Navy. I am from the cadre of the engineering department of Indian Navy and my cover name was Hussein Mubarik Patel, which I had taken for doing some intelligence gathering for Indian agencies,” Jhadav had said in a confessional video message aired by the DG ISPR in March last year.

Jhadav told he was picked up by RAW by end of the year 2013 and ever since that time, he has been directing various activities in Balochistan and Karachi at the behest of RAW for creating law and order situation. “I was basically the man for Mr Anil Kumar Gupta who is the joint secretary of RAW and his contacts in Pakistan, especially in Balochistan Student Organisation,” he had admitted. He said RAW is involved in some activities related to the Baloch liberation movement within Pakistan and the region around it besides funding the Baloch movement through various contacts. The ultimate aim was to maim or kill people within Pakistan. These activities were mostly centred around the ports of Gwadar, Pasni, Jewani and various other installations.

But his confession was backed by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s public vow to separate Balochistan from Pakistan exactly five months after Jhadav’s admission last year.

India today stands exposed in state-sponsored terrorism, terror financing, spying and subversive activities. It is desperately trying to divert the world’s attention by presenting Kulbhushan’s case from a humanitarian angle. India is trying to defend a person whose actions have led to the killing of scores of innocent Pakistanis. But as the famous quote of Abraham Lincoln goes—“You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time”—India can’t fool the ICJ again and again.