AMN / WEB DESK
India has called upon Pakistan to take appropriate steps to address the shortcomings in the ICJ (Review and Re-consideration) Bill, 2020 and to comply with the judgements of the International Court of Justice in letter and spirit.
The Bill has been passed by the National Assembly of Pakistan. Briefing media on Thursday, External Affairs Ministry Spokesman Arindam Bagchi said, the Bill codified into law the earlier ordinance with all its shortcomings. He said, it does not create a machinery to facilitate effective review and reconsideration of Kulbhushan Jadhav’s case as mandated by the International Court of Justice. The ICJ had ruled that Pakistan was in breach of its international obligation because of failure to provide consular access to Jadhav.
The Ordinance and Bill invites the Municipal Courts in Pakistan to decide whether or not any prejudice has been caused to Jadhav on account of the failure to provide consular access. The Spokesman said, this is clearly breach of the basic tenet that Municipal Courts cannot be the arbiter of whether a state has fulfilled its obligations under international law. He said, not only this, the Bill further invites the Municipal Courts to sit and appeal over the judgment of the ICJ.
Replying to another query, Mr. Bagchi said, the issue of Afghanistan was discussed during External Affairs Minister Dr. S. Jaishankar’s visit to Qatar. US Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation Zalmay Khalilzad was in Doha during Dr. Jaishankar’s visit and called on him to brief him on recent developments regarding Afghanistan.