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Sunday, November 24, 2024  
21 Jumada Al-Awwal 1446  

ICJ to announce its verdict in Kulbhushan Yadav case tomorrow

—File Photo —File Photo

International Court of Justice (ICJ) will announce its verdict in Kulbhushan Yadav case on Wednesday.

Pakistani team headed by the attorney general has reached the Hague to hear the verdict. The team also includes foreign office Spokesperson Dr Muhammad Faisal.

It is pertinent here to mention that on February 22, the ICJ had reserved verdict in Kulbhushan Jadhav case following conclusion of arguments from India and Pakistan. Pakistan presented its final arguments in Kulbhushan Jadhav case in ICJ on the fourth day of public hearing being held at The Hague.

Kulbhushan Jadhav who is currently in the custody of Pakistan’s Law Enforcing Agencies (LEAs) has been accused with charges pertaining to espionage which are punishable by death under the law of the land.

Laywer representing Pakistan, English Queen’s Counsel Khawar Qureshi, maintained that India has yet not responded to their arguments.

The Indian lawyer did not reply to Pakistan’s arguments but tried to divert the attention of court from unrelated issues, he added. “India quoted my remarks out of the context. I do not to add anything as the facts speak themselves,” he asserted.

Qureshi told that Pakistan’s answer to Indian queries has been submitted in court. However; India has neither replied over the 2018 agreement and the story of Jadhav’s kidnapping.

On April 11, Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa had confirmed death sentence of Jadhav who was tried through Field General Court Martial (FGCM) under Pakistan Army Act (PAA). He was tried under section 59 of Pakistan Army Act (PAA) 1952 and Section III of official Secret Act of 1923.

FGCM found Kulbushan SudhirYadhav guilty of all the charges. He confessed before a Magistrate and the Court that he was tasked by RAW to plan, coordinate and organize espionage and sabotage activities aiming to destabilize and wage war against Pakistan by impeding the efforts of Law Enforcement Agencies for restoring peace in Balochistan and Karachi.

Jadhav alias Hussein Mubarak Patel was arrested on March 3, 2016 through a Counter Intelligence Operation from Mashkel, Balochistan.

In March last year, authorities released a video in which the Indian spy confessed to New Delhi’s alleged involvement in terrorist activities in Balochistan. He revealed that he had been directing various activities in Karachi and Balochistan "at the behest of RAW", the Indian intelligence agency, and that he was still with the Indian Navy.

India has long had a history of fanning terrorism inside Pakistan by sponsoring terrorist outfits in Balochistan, the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, and Karachi.

Islamabad had said that the case of Kulbhushan Jadhav substantiates India’s continued involvement in subversive activities in Pakistan.

Earlier this year, Pakistan s permanent representative to the UN Maleeha Lodhi handed over a dossier to United Nations (UN) Secretary General Antonio Guterres detailing evidence of Indian subversive activities within Pakistani territory.

The dossier contained Jadhav s confessional statement and related documents and evidence of Indian interference in Balochistan. Video evidence of an Indian Navy submarine sneaking into Pakistani waters on November 18, 2016 was also part of the dossier.

The dossier also included proof of contacts of Indian intelligence officials, working under diplomatic cover at Indian High Commission in Islamabad, with terrorists. Pakistan, in the dossier, urged the United Nations to prevent India from attempting to destabilise it.

Investigations after Jadhav s arrest last year had revealed that the undercover Indian agent s main agenda was to sabotage the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) through propaganda and to create disharmony among the Baloch nationalist political parties.

However, Jadhav was not the first RAW operative caught snooping in Pakistan. Prior to him, a good number of Indian spies had been spotted and hand-cuffed in Pakistan during the course of country s enmity with its neighbouring nation.