Wait and watch for Pakistan move: Experts

Mumbai: Even as the International Court of Justice (ICJ) order giving a provisional stay on the execution of Kulbhushan Jadhav has sent ripples of joy among Indians, a disturbing question on whether Pakistan will respect the ICJ order has started making the rounds.

While lawyers specialising in international law said that Pakistan is bound to respect the ICJ order or face diplomatic isolation from signatories to the Vienna Convention, diplomats said India needs to wait and watch what Pakistan’s next action will be.

Sudhir Devare, an Indian Foreign Service officer, said Pakistan would see a lot of internal squabbles in light of the ICJ verdict, as the opposition in that country has already started slamming the Nawaz Sharif government. “Pakistan must not have imagined that India would approach ICJ and hence it is a new experience for them. However, it has to be seen how they react and whether the Pakistan army will try to influence the government. It also needs to be seen what role the Supreme Court of Pakistan will play in light of the ICJ order.”

Sitaram Sharma, honarary consul of Belarus and president of think tank Asia in Global Affairs, Kolkata, said, “It has been a master stroke by the Indian government with an element of risk to approach the ICJ. Had the decision gone against Jadhav, the government would have lost face but (now) it is Pakistan that has lost face. It has been a win-win situation for India and hence Pakistan will now be contemplating on finding lacunae in the judicial validity of ICJ.”

City-based lawyer Sujay Kantawala, who deals with international arbitration matters said, “The order of the ICJ is a major victory for

India in light of its efforts to avert the execution of Jadhav. Now that ICJ has stayed his execution, Pakistan cannot proceed with it as their counsels were part of the
hearing and represented Pakistan in the case too.”

Mr Kantawala further said as Pakistan is a signatory of the Vienna Convention, it has to abide by the ICJ decision till the case is finally decided.

Former Mumbai police commissioner Julio Ribeiro while appreciating the ICJ verdict said, “ I am very happy with the decision. We were expecting this decision and finally everyone just happy about it. However, I cannot comment on what will happen in future after this decision.”