Face of Nation : Reacting on Pakistan’s claim of victory at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in the Kulbhushan Jadhav case, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) Thursday said Islamabad has its own compulsions to lie to its people. “I think they have their own compulsions, as to why they have to lie to their own people,” MEA spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said.
In a major diplomatic victory for India, ICJ granted consular access to Jadhav and ruled that Pakistan must review the death sentence for the Indian national. In a 15-1 verdict, a bench led by President of the Court Judge Abdulqawi Ahmed Yusuf said Pakistan had violated India’s rights to consular visits after Jadhav’s arrest. Pakistan’s judge was the lone dissenter during the hearing today.
Taking a swipe at Pakistan over its claim of having won in the Jadhav case, the MEA claimed that Islamabad has been reading a different verdict. “The main verdict is in 42 pages, if there is no patience to go through 42 pages, they should go through 7-pages press release, where every point is in India’s favour,” Kumar added.
The MEA further said the ICJ judgment is a complete vindication of India’s position on the matter. “It is incumbent on Pakistan to implement the ICJ verdict. The ICJ judgment is final, binding and without the provision of appeal,” the MEA said.
The MEA also spoke on Jamaat-ud-Dawa chief Hafiz Saeed’s arrest and called the repeated arrest and release as “drama”. It said that the arrest and release have happened over eight times since 2001 and after every major terror incident Saeed perpetrates in India. “He has been arrested and then released on some grounds or other. This drama, to my count, has happened over 8 times since 2001,” the MEA said.
“The question is whether this time it will be more than a cosmetic step, whether Hafiz Saeed will be tried and sentenced for his terrorist activities. We hope that this time Hafiz Saeed will be brought to justice,” the MEA said. On Wednesday, Pakistan had arrested Saeed on charges of terror financing.
