Regrettable decision

It was another manifestation of Indian aversion to diplomatic or legal solutions to any dispute when, on Friday, it declined Pakistan’s offer of providing consular access, as required by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) judgment, to its convicted spy, Kulbhushan Jadhav.

A Foreign Office spokesperson on Thursday informed the media that “We have offered the Indian High Commission to avail consular access on Friday (August 2). The reply from the Indian side is still awaited.” However, reports in Indian media say Delhi rejected Islamabad’s offer as the ‘consular access comes with riders’.

The Indian media quoted external affairs ministry sources as saying that “Pakistan has been asked to provide unimpeded consular access to Kulbhushan Jadhav, in an environment free from fear of intimidation and reprisal, in the light of the orders of the ICJ.”

In fact, the ICJ had, in its 42-page order of July 17, rejected the Indian request to set aside the conviction of Jadhav. To India’s disappointment, the ICJ even did not order the retrial of Jadhav.

The international court, however, maintained its stay on the execution of Jadhav while directing Pakistan for ‘effective review’ of the case and suggesting to reconsider conviction and sentence to the Indian spy. Jadhav was arrested in March 2016. He admitted charges of espionage and terrorist activities and the trial court convicted him with death penalty which was endorsed in April 2017 by the Army chief.

It was India who took the case to the ICJ seeking the annulment of Jadhav’s conviction while invoking the provisions of the Vienna Conventions. Now while Pakistan has demonstrated that it intends to comply with the ICJ orders, it is baffling why India is trying to pull itself out of the process.

What is India up to? There is additional deployment of troops in Kashmir amid talks of doing away with constitutional provisions that give special status to the disputed territory. Besides, there are reports of escalation in military activity on the LoC, with India using Cluster bombs targeting civilian population. Let us hope that it is not the beginning of another phase of jingoism.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 5^th, 2019.

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