Ex-CJP slams ICJ for ‘surpassing jurisdiction’

ISLAMABAD: Former chief justice of Pakistan (CJP) and Pakistan Justice Democratic Party President Iftikhar Chaudhry has expressed disappointment over the decision of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) suspending the execution of Indian spy Kulbhushan Yadav.

Addressing a press conference here on Friday, he said the ICJ, without determining its jurisdiction, directed Pakistan not to execute Yadav who was involved in espionage and terrorism activities in Pakistan.

He said the ICJ had no jurisdiction to entertain the petition of India as the issue did not fall within the definition of “contentious one”. He said the ICJ had an obligation to dismiss the petition as Pakistan being the second party had not submitted to its jurisdiction.

He said that in view of an agreement between India and Pakistan titled Consular Relations of the Year 2008, the ICJ erred in law to ignore this agreement for no other purpose but to assume its jurisdiction. Moreover, the provision of Article 26 (2) of the statue of the International Court of Justice was not followed as the number of judges to constitute such a bench was required to be determined by the court with the approval of the parties concerned.

He criticized Indian Justice Bhandari who appended a separate note which smacked bias on his part against Pakistan. He also criticized non-preparation of the case by the lawyer appearing on behalf of Pakistan. He said Pakistan had a foolproof case based on cogent reasons to decline relief to India.