Better for India to Try Hardcore Diplomacy In Re: Kulbhushan Jadhav

Kulbhushan Jadhav's Death

These disputes would relate, if not entirely, substantially to the interpretation of the Vienna Convention and its application to the facts of the case.

The fate of #KulbhushanJadhav hangs on this statement of Harish Salve. Will it succeed?

Now let me explain the significance of the statement. India has invoked the jurisdiction of International Court of Justice (ICJ) under Article 1 of the Optional Protocol Concerning the Compulsory Settlement of Disputes (Optional Protocol), which reads as under:

Disputes arising out of the interpretation or application of the Convention shall lie within the compulsory jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice and may accordingly be brought before the Court by an application made by any party to the dispute being a Party to the present Protocol.

The plain reading of the Article would make it obvious that it concerns only with the disputes relating to jurisdiction of the ICJ. However, Harish Salve through his above-quoted statement is trying to extend it to the main dispute, which is whether Pakistan has failed in its obligation under the Vienna Convention by not providing consular access to Kulbhushan Jadhav. The ICJ would obviously hear the main dispute only after it has been satisfied of its jurisdiction to hear it first or else if some precedence exists where jurisdictional disputes have been extended into the main dispute as India is trying to do. I have heard good part of the proceedings before the ICJ. I don’t think Harish Salve made any other statement or quoted any case law to either substantiate India’s point with respect to jurisdictional dispute or to extend jurisdictional dispute to the main dispute. I think India is wasting its time. This is a lost cause. Better to try hardcore diplomacy!

Note: I am #AntiNationalHumanist and would like Kulbhushan Jadhav to live, not die.

About the Author

Ankur Mutreja
Ankur Mutreja is an advocate-cum-writer, and his blogs are amongst his modes of expression. He has also authored number of books, which can be downloaded from the links on the top menu.

Be the first to comment on "Better for India to Try Hardcore Diplomacy In Re: Kulbhushan Jadhav"

Trolls Welcomed :-)

%d bloggers like this: