Here is it bit modified and
extended.
Though Pakistan is trying to
put up a defiant face in the wake of the adverse ruling by the International
Court of Justice that has stayed Kulbhushan Jadhav's hanging till it reaches to a conclusion, its
opposition has started slamming Nawaz Sharif and his government for mishandling
the situation that has led Pakistan to this humiliation. The ICJ has directed
Pakistan to "take all measures at its disposal to ensure that Jadhav is
not executed pending the final decision in these proceedings".
Though based on fallacious
premises that the Pak legal team at the ICJ was ill-prepared or couldn't get
time to prepare, whereas it is amply clear with today's observations by the ICJ
that Pakistan's arguments had no legal viability, the opposition in Pakistan is
training its guns on Nawaz Sharif and is asking him to reply to the nation on
the fiasco.
According to a Dunya News
report, main opposition parties of Pakistan, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), have sought Sharif's reply as well as have
demanded him to urgently convene a National Security Committee (NSC) meeting.
PPP's Sherry Rehman, a former
foreign minister of Pakistan, has blamed the Sharif government of ignoring a
'case pertaining to national security' as his government 'government remained
stuck in Panama Leaks SC case'.
PTI has blamed the Sharif
government of working for vested interests and hidden motives that ultimately
proved so damaging. PTI's chief Imran Khan has said that "the nation
demands Sharif family disclose all its financial interests/assets abroad
especially with Jindal in India and that "Pakistan cannot afford to have
its security jeopardised by the Sharifs' financial interests abroad".
This is another line of
thought in Pakistan that the Sharif government colluded with the Narendra
Modi's government of India to let it happen as Jadhav was sentenced to death by
its military court bypassing the concerns of its civilian establishment which
initially believed that the case against Jadhav was based on mere statements
and more evidence was needed, as Nawaz Sharif's Foreign Affairs Advisor Sartaj
Aziz had informed the Pak Senate in December 2016. Visit of Indian businessman
Sajjan Jindal, who is a common friend of Sharif and Modi and is seen as an
interlocutor between the two PMs, to Nawaz Sharif's personal house last month has
only added to this line of thought.
India had approached the ICJ
on May 8 and the UN's judicial arm had agreed to conduct a public hearing of
the matter on May 15 staying Jadhav's hanging till further orders. After the
May 15 hearing, the court read out it order yesterday that accepted India's
arguments and prayers and put an interim stay on Jadhav's death sentence till a
final conclusion. Though Pakistan has said that the ICJ has no jurisdiction in
the matter and the ruling has not changed Pakistan's position on Jadhav's
sentence, the ICJ ruling is being seen as an Indian victory and Pakistan's
humiliation in the diplomatic circles.
KULBHUSHAN JADHAV'S CASE
On April 10, a Pak military
sentenced Kulbhushan Jadhav to death after convicting him for espionage and
sabotage activities in Pakistan. Pakistan claims Jadhav, who allegedly used the
alias Hussein Mubarak Patel in Pakistan, was attached to the Research and
Analysis Wing (RAW). Pakistan arrested Jadhav in March 2016.
The Indian government has
maintained that Kulbhushan Jadhav is a former Indian Naval officer turned
businessman who was on a routine business trip to Iran when he was abducted by
Pakistani intelligence. Reports say he was captured by the Taliban and later
sold to the Pakistan Army. India repeatedly demanded consular access to Jadhav
but Pakistan always denied it, a point that the ICJ highlighted in its ruling
yesterday. The ICJ clearly said that Pakistan had committed a mistake by doing
so.
India has also said that
Jadhav is innocent and there is no evidence against him and that Pakistsan
carried out a sham, secret trial in a military court where no information on
charges and evidence was given. India has warned Pakistan of 'dire
consequences' equalling Jadhav's death sentence with pre-meditated murder and
has time and again asked for the consular access to him.
©SantoshChaubey