India, Pakistan await verdict in Kulbhushan Jadhav case, MEA says 'not proper to speculate'

India and Pakistan are awaiting the verdict in Kulbhushan Jadhav case on July 17, 2019. 

Both the countries are sending their respective team to The Hague where the verdict will be announced at 6.30pm IST on July 17 by The International court of justice (ICJ).

Ministry of External Affairs Raveesh Kumar said, "We will have to wait till July 17. Not proper to speculate. We have submitted a memorial which is in the public domain. A team is going to represent the Government of India."

The final oral hearing on the case took place between February 18 to 21, 2019 at the ICJ when both India and Pakistan presented their arguments.

Spokesperson of Pakistani Foreign Ministry Faisal Mohammed said, "We can not prejudge the verdict, however, we are prepared for the case comprehensively. Best lawyer was done and all institutions under the lead of Attorney General fought the case, all documents are on ICJ’s website."

Adding, "Since the matter is subjudice, therefore, we can not comment on it. However, we expect positive results since our case was well prepared."

Kulbhushan Jadhav is an Indian national who was abducted by Pakistani spy agency Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) from Iran and later a Pakistani military court awarded death sentence to him on alleged espionage charges.

India has been demanding consular access to Jadhav since March 25, 2016, when the High Commission of India in Islamabad was first informed about his custody with the Pakistan authorities. 

Islamabad has so far refused to provide consular access to Jadhav. India went to the world court on May 8, 2017, and filed a case against Pakistan for “for egregious violations of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, 1963” and got a stay on his hanging.

On May 18, 2017, the ICJ delivered its order asking Pakistan not to go ahead with his execution.