'Hang Jadhav Immediately', Says Appeal Filed In Supreme Court Of Pakistan

New Delhi: In a development that could render the entire International Court of Justice hearing a futile exercise, an application has been filed in the Supreme Court of Pakistan, seeking immediate execution of Kulbhushan Jadhav.

The application states that Jadhav has not “appealed against his death penalty” and “international law was not binding” on Pakistan.

According to a report in The Nation, a Pakistan-based newspaper, the applicant has submitted before the apex court of Pakistan that Jadhav had pleaded guilty in front of the military courts and he has also not exercised his right to appeal against the death penalty, hence “Jadhav should be hanged immediately”.

The applicant has also stated that the decisions of death sentence and refusal of diplomatic access were according to Pakistani law, and not the international law. “Pakistan is free to act according to its domestic law,” reported The Nation.

The application was filed by Advocate Muzammal through Farooq H. Naik in the top court.

On May 18, the International Court of Justice after hearing India’s request to grant consular access to Jadhav and Pakistan’s submission through QC Khawar Qureshi decided that Pakistan should not execute Jadhav till a verdict is delivered by the World Court.

However, Pakistan, had maintained that the ICJ verdict had not altered the status of Kulbhushan Jadhav case in any manner, and India lacked merits to fight the case.

Judges at the ICJ ruled in a unanimous and binding decision that Jadhav must not be put to death by Islamabad until they pass final judgment in the case.

Earlier, the Chairman of Law Commission of India, Justice BS Chauhan, had told News18 that international law was not binding on Pakistan. “International Law is mostly on paper. The biggest question is that first it has to be decided whether International Law is a subject of political science or law. How to implement this decision of the ICJ? Suppose today even if they (ICJ) order a stay, but Pakistan wants to execute Jadhav. They say, ‘no we want to execute him… sorry’. Then what is the remedy available to India? Nothing,” the Law Commission Chairman had said.