NEW DELHI: India has been asked to make its submission in the retired naval officer Kulbhushan Jadhav case in the International Court of Justice (ICJ) by September 13, according to the Ministry of External Affairs.
Claiming that the development discredits the Pakistan’s claim that its request seeking extra time for the case had been rejected, MEA spokesperson Gopal Baglay said that the Pakistani has been time frame till December 13 to complete its counter-submission.
In response to a question on whether Pakistan's claim that India's request for more time in the case has been rejected by the ICJ, Baglay said, ”It was not true as India had sought four months and had got that with the court fixing the deadline in September.”
Baglay said the timelines had been decided in the June 8 meeting ICJ President Ronny Abraham had with agents of the two countries. However, Baglay made it clear that the court will decide if it needs more submission and then take call on the future course of action, in response to a question if the hearing in the case would begin after the submissions of the two countries.
Earlier in the day, according to the reports published in the Pakistani media quoting Pakistan's Attorney General Ashtar Ausaf Ali that, India had asked the ICJ to offer it time till December to file pleadings in the Jadhav case, however, "the court has dismissed their request".
"India had adopted the stance that the matter was one of life and death, but Pakistan had stated that the ICJ is not a court of appeals. The ICJ is supposed to conclude whether or not Jadhav can receive consular access, for which a time period of two to three months is more than enough to file a response," he said.
On May 10 hearing, a 10-member bench of the ICJ restrained Pakistan from executing 46-year-old Jadhav, who has been awarded death sentence by a Pakistan army court for alleged "involvement in espionage and terrorist activities in Pakistan". New Delhi has challenged Pakistan’s allegations in the ICJ against the death sentence, describing the charges against Jadhav as "concocted" and his trial as "farcical".