Kulbhushan Jadhav’s death sentence has been halted by ICJ, with remarks that “Pakistan shall take all measures at its disposal to ensure that Jadhav is not executed pending the final decision in these proceedings”.
There is no doubt that Pakistan acted with a very big heart to accept such observation because Kulbhushan Jadhav has categorically accepted his involvement in killing of thousands of innocent civilians and destabilizing Pakistan as a State.
Kulbhushan Jadhav has confessed sponsoring state terrorism in various parts of Pakistan. He is responsible for the killing of innocent people inside Pakistan. His case had been examined in detail and beyond doubts he has been found guilty. One can listen and watch his video recorded confession statements again and again to know how he was launched by Indian intelligence RAW, how his fake passports were handed over to him, how did he manage to use Iranian soil to travel to several places of Pakistan by using a Muslim fake name and a fake identity.
Pakistani agencies could kill him after capturing him in Baluchistan but Pakistan expressed exceptional maturity and instead of terminating him or sending him cold and damp underground prison cell and throwing the keys in water, Pakistan tried him and placed facts of his operation on record because Pakistan respects not only international laws but also military traditions and norms. Kulbhushan Jadhav is a serving Indian military officers therefore he was granted all rights from Pakistan of a military man arrested in action. He was allowed to meet his family and I was also present in Pakistan Foreign Office when he held meeting with his mother and wife. I remember his mother gave a gesture of thanks to us (reporters) who were present there but officer from Indian High Commission did not allow her (his mother) to talk to us although she came closer to media-men group and she wanted to talk to us. Jadev in one of his video statement said that his family was threaten by Indian authorities because Indian authorities were worried that his family could share facts within Indian or Pakistani media.
Pakistan has fulfilled all legal obligations in the trial of Kulbhushan and it is testified by past that Pakistani courts will handle his case on legal grounds as they did in several cases of Indians arrested in past.
Involvement of Kulbhushan Jadhav in sabotage activities with particular reference to China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is explained by himself (Jadhav) in his video recorded statements and he candidly explained in his statements how did he developed his networking in Pakistan, hired terrorists, funded terrorists in Baluchistan and gave them training and resources to launch terror attacks all over Pakistan and against the territorial integrity of Pakistan.
There was a strong reaction from Pakistani media that why did Pakistan Foreign Office allowed him to meet his family although he was instrumental to kill thousands of innocent civilians of Pakistan but Pakistan Foreign Office was of the view that meeting with his family was purely on humanitarian grounds without any pressure and setting an example for others that Pakistan believes in humanity and international norms.
I remember as a journalist that all procedures with regard to detention and bringing the individual before the court were completed in Jadev case and all procedural fairness in law, in the form of rights to due process, a fair and impartial trial was conducted although Pakistan government faced serve reaction from people of Pakistan who were of the view that terrorist like Jadev did not deserve such decent treatment because he himself accepted that he killed thousands of civilians all over the Pakistan through his terror networking.
Many countries of including United States do not respect International Court of Justice (ICJ) rather United States calls it useless and dangerous. However, Pakistan being a responsible State not only respects ICJ but let this court decide the fate of terrorists like Indian spy Kulbhushan Jadhav because Pakistan trust ICJ.
Writer of this article Agha Iqrar Haroon is Diplomatic Correspondent based in Islamabad
