New Delhi: In its reply to the International Court of Justice (ICJ), India on Tuesday reiterated its stance to bring back former Navy officer Kulbhushan Jadhav from Pakistan.
"As per the court order, India had filed written pleadings (Memorial) in the case on 13 September 2017 and Pakistan filed its countermemorial on 13 December 2017. Today, India filed its reply to Pakistan's submissions to the court. Pakistan has been given time till 17 July 2018 by the court to file its response (rejoinder)," said The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA).
This, the MEA spokesperson noted, comes almost a year after India approached the ICJ on May 8 last year. India had then approached the court for an egregious violation of the provisions of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations by the Islamic republic.
On May 18, the ICJ had passed an order restricting Pakistan from going ahead with the death penalty it had handed to Jadhav on charges of espionage. Almost six months after that, his family, including his wife and mother were allowed to meet him for which they travelled to Islamabad.
Earlier this year, in February, Pakistan said that India has not responded to its queries on the passport of the death-row prisoner and details of his service, calling it "regrettable".
Foreign Office spokesman Dr Mohammad Faisal said that Pakistan arrested "serving Indian Naval Commander Kulbhushan Jadhav", who confessed to his involvement in numerous terrorist incidents in Pakistan.
Pakistan claims its security forces arrested the former Navy officer from restive Balochistan province on March 3 in 2016 after he reportedly entered from Iran. However, India maintains that Jadhav was kidnapped from Iran where he had business interests after retiring from the Naval force.
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