Pakistan to send five-member team for Kulbhushan case hearing at ICJ

International Court of Justice is set hear the case from February 18-21 in The Hague

Pakistan is all set to present its case with regards to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) hearing of self-confessed Indian spy Kulbhushan Jadhav’s case, scheduled for February 18-21 in The Hague.

A five-member delegation comprising Attorney General Anwar Mansoor Khan, Foreign Office spokesperson Dr Mohammad Faisal and lawyer Khawar Qureshi among other officials will represent the country at the international court, sources told Express News on Friday.

Indian lawyers will present their arguments on the first day of hearing followed by Pakistan’s response the next day, they said, adding that the Indian side will resume presenting its case on February 20.

The ICJ, a world court that sits at the Peace Palace in The Hague, is seized with an Indian complaint on the conviction of the Indian spy.



In July last year, Pakistan submitted its second counter-memorial to India’s arguments on the conviction of the RAW agent before the world court. Sources had told The Express Tribune that Pakistan rebutted Indian’s allegations that Kulbhushan’s wife and mother were ‘mistreated’ when they visited to meet him last year.

Pakistan also raised the jurisdiction issue of the ICJ that India had no case to plead because it never denied that Jadhav was travelling on a passport on a cover or the assumed Muslim name ‘Mubarak Patel’, the sources added.

Moreover, some international legal experts’ opinions have also been referred to in the counter pleadings to justify that effective review of the decisions of military courts is potentially available before high courts of Pakistan.

Commander Jadhav was captured in Balochistan in March 2016 and he later confessed to his association with the premier Indian intelligence agency — Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) — and his involvement in espionage and fomenting terrorism in Pakistan.

In early 2017, the Field General Court Martial sentenced Jadhav to death, which was confirmed by Chief of the Army Staff Gen Qamar Bajwa on April 10 this year. On January 23, the ICJ gave a timeline to both Pakistan and India to file another round of memorials in the case.