Hyderabad: A day after International Court of Justice (ICJ) pronounced its verdict on the Kulbhushan Jadhav case, Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan on Thursday hailed the ruling of the world court.
Taking it to Twitter, Khan said, "Appreciate ICJ’s decision not to acquit, release & return Commander Kulbhushan Jadhav to India. He is guilty of crimes against the people of Pakistan. Pakistan shall proceed further as per law."
Earlier Wednesday, Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi claimed that the court's ruling is a "victory for Pakistan" as the top UN court did not ask for him to be released.
"Commander Jadhav shall remain in Pakistan. He shall be treated in accordance with the laws of Pakistan. This is a victory for Pakistan," Qureshi tweeted.
Pakistan Foreign Minister hails ICJ verdict
The Pakistan Foreign Office in a statement said the fact that the ICJ did not ask Pakistan to release or acquit Jadhav meant that the UN court had "not accepted India's plea" for his release.
The Foreign Office also said that Pakistan was a responsible member of the international community.
"Having heard the judgment, Pakistan will now proceed as per law," the statement said.
The ICJ on Wednesday ordered Pakistan not to execute him and asked it to reconsider the sentence awarded to him by a military court.
The world court, while rejecting all objections raised by Pakistan, directed it to grant consular access to Jadhav "without further delay", while holding that it had "breached" the Vienna Convention by denying him this right.
Jadhav, a former Indian Navy officer, was kidnapped by Pakistani agencies on March 3, 2016, from Iran where he was in connection with his business.
Pakistan had claimed that Jadhav was arrested from its restive province of Balochistan and labeled him as a spy. It notified India about it through a press release on March 25, 2016, 22 days after he was picked up.
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Jadhav, who hails from Powai in Mumbai and is 49 years old now, was subjected to an opaque military trial, which sentenced him to death on April 10, 2017, even as Pakistan government kept rejecting India's repeated pleas for consular access.
