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UN Court Directs Pakistan to Review Case of Alleged Indian Spy

However, UN court refused India’s request to annul Pakistan military court’s decision, his release, and safe passage to India.

UN Court Directs Pakistan to Review Case of Alleged Indian Spy
A file photo of Kulbhushan Jadhav (Source: PTI)

(Bloomberg) -- The International Court of Justice has directed Pakistan to suspend the death sentence against a former Indian naval officer on charges espionage and sabotage, a case that has strained the already tense relations between the nuclear-armed neighbors.

Kulbhushan Jadhav was arrested by Pakistani authorities in March 2016 and accused of being a spy. He was sentenced to death by a military court in April 2017 for "activities aiming to destabilize and wage war against Pakistan" in both Karachi and the restive region of Balochistan.

UN Court Directs Pakistan to Review Case of Alleged Indian Spy

In a verdict announced in The Hague on Wednesday, the court directed Pakistan to provide "effective review and reconsideration of his conviction and sentences" and affirmed Jadhav’s right to consular access and notification.

The ruling comes as relations between the two South Asian rivals are under strain following the February airstrikes by India and Pakistan’s retaliation on shooting down an Indian jet. India’s initial airstrikes were in response to a suicide bombing in Kashmir that killed 40 paramilitary troops.

However the UN’s top court refused India’s request to annul Pakistan military court’s decision, his release, and safe passage to India. "The court finds that these submissions made by India cannot be upheld," ICJ President Abdulqawi Ahmed Yusuf, said as he read the court’s decision.

It was a victory for India that the death sentence will remain suspended, said Michael Kugelman, senior associate for South Asia at the Washington, D.C.-based Woodrow Wilson Center.

"Hardliners on both sides will be aggrieved that the verdict didn’t take a stronger position in their favor, but I don’t think we should overstate the impact of this verdict on India-Pakistan relations,"Kugelman said. "This is a relationship that is bound to remain cold no matter what the ICJ may have to say about Jadhav."

‘Farcical Trial’

The court’s ruling has given temporary relief to India, which challenged the death sentence by arguing that Jadhav’s conviction in a “farcical trial’’ was based on a forced confession. India also said Pakistan acted in an irresponsible manner and violated international treaties and obligations to which it is a signatory.

Pakistani lawyers hit back by accusing Jadhav of “terrorism activities.’’ The court in May 2017 halted the arrested Indian’s execution. He was accused of carrying out "terrorist activities aimed at destabilizing Pakistan" on behalf of India’s foreign intelligence agency, the Research and Analysis Wing or RAW.

India said Jadhav was kidnapped and moved to Pakistan by armed groups and claims Pakistan is using him to blame India for its problems in Balochistan.

Both the nations accuse each other of sending spies to their countries.

To contact the reporters on this story: Upmanyu Trivedi in New Delhi at utrivedi2@bloomberg.net;Bibhudatta Pradhan in New Delhi at bpradhan@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Ruth Pollard at rpollard2@bloomberg.net, Unni Krishnan

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