March 2017 Declaration limits ICJ jurisdiction in case of Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s March 2017 Declaration recognizing ICJ jurisdiction had actually revoked the previous 12th September 1960 Declaration and excluded disputes of nine different categories including the one that covers Kulbhushan Jadhav case.

Reading of the two Declarations shows that as against the previous one the latest Declaration has far more safeguards for Pakistan to avoid ICJ interventions on disputes concerning country’s national security, delimitation of its frontiers and boundaries, involving aspect of hostilities, issues that fall within the domestic jurisdictions etc.

According to the 29th March 2016 Declaration, Pakistan recognized the ICJ jurisdiction but clearly reflected: “Provided this Declaration shall not apply to:

a) disputes the resolution of which the parties shall entrust to other tribunals by virtue of agreements already in existence or which may be concluded in the future; or

b) disputes relating to questions which fall essentially within the domestic jurisdiction of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan;

c) disputes relating to or connected with any aspect of hostilities, armed conflicts, individual or collective self-defence or the discharge of any functions pursuant to any decision or recommendation of international bodies, the deployment of armed forces abroad, as well as action relating and ancillary thereto in which Pakistan is, has been or may in future be involved.

d) disputes with regard to which any other party to a dispute has accepted the compulsory jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice exclusively for or in relation to the purposes of such dispute; or where the acceptance of the Court’s compulsory jurisdiction on behalf of a party to the dispute as deposited or ratified less than 12 months prior to the filing of the application bringing the dispute before the Court;

e) all matters related to the national security of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan;

f) disputes arising under a multilateral treaty or any other international obligation that the Islamic Republic of Pakistan has specifically undertaken unless: i) all the parties to the treaty affected by the decision are also parties to the case before the Court, or ii) the Government of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan specifically agrees to jurisdiction, and iii) the Government of Islamic Republic of Pakistan is also a Party to the treaty.

g) any dispute about the delimitation of maritime zones, including the territorial sea, the exclusive economic zone, the continental shelf, the exclusive fishery zone and other zones of national maritime jurisdiction of the exploitation of any disputed area adjacent to any such maritime zone;

h) disputes with the Islamic Republic of Pakistan pertaining to the determination of its territory or the modification or delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries.

i) All disputes prior to this Declaration although they are filed before this Court hereafter (The) Government of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan reserves the right at any time, by means of a written notification addressed to the Secretary General of the United Nations, and with effect from the moment of such notification, either to amend or terminate this Declaration.”

Submitted through Pakistan’s Permanent Representative to the UN Dr Maleeha Lodhi, the Declaration also reads: “The Declaration revokes and substitutes the previous Declaration made on 12 September 1960.”

As against the comprehensive March 2017 Declaration, the September 1960 Declaration, now stands revoked, reads as: “The Government of Pakistan recognize as compulsory ipso facto and without special agreement in relation to any other State accepting the same obligation, the jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice in all legal disputes after 24 June 1948, arising, concerning:

(a) the interpretation of a treaty;

(b) any question of international law;

(c) existence of any fact which, if established, would constitute a breach of an international obligation;”

“Provided that the declaration shall not apply to:

(a) disputes the solution of which the parties shall entrust to other tribunals by virtue of agreements already in existence or which may be concluded in the future; or

(b) disputes relating to questions which by international law fall exclusively within the domestic jurisdiction of Pakistan;

(c) disputes arising under a multilateral treaty unless (i) all parties to the treaty affected by the decision are also parties to the case before the Court, or (ii) the Government of Pakistan specially agree to jurisdiction; and provided further, that this Declaration shall remain in force till such time as notice may be given to terminate it.”