ICJ orders continued stay on Jadhav’s execution

In a major victory for India, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on Wednesday ordered continued stay on the execution of Kulbushan Jadhav and asked it to reconsider the sentence.

The world court also directed Pakistan to grant consular access to Jadhav, while holding that it had "breached" the Vienna Convention in this regard by denying him this right.

The court rejected all the objections of Pakistan, including on admissibility of the case and the claims by Islamabad that India had not provided the actual nationality of Jadhav.

The ICJ said that it was satisfied that Jadhav, who was arrested in March 2016 and sentenced to death by a military court in Pakistan on charges of spying in April 2017, was an Indian national.

It observed that even Pakistan had acknowledged the fact that Jadhav was an Indian national.

The court, in its ruling by 15-1, declared "a continued stay of execution" on Jadhav, saying it "constitutes an indispensable condition for the effective review and reconsideration of the conviction and sentence" of the accused.