ISLAMABAD: A 400-page rejoinder from Pakistan on convicted Indian spy Kulbhushan Jadhav’s role in terrorism and subversive activities is scheduled to be submitted to the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
Indian navy officer Commander Jadhav was working covertly for the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), the country’s external intelligence arm equivalent to Pakistan’s military administered Inter-Services Intelligence. He was arrested by Pakistan’s security agencies in March 2016 in Baluchistan, during a counter-intelligence operation.
Although he was found guilty and sentenced to death by Pakistan’s military court, India obtained an order from the ICJ to halt the execution, pending a final decision.
Jadhav confessed to his harmful activities and ample evidence has been submitted by Islamabad to the ICJ.
However, New Delhi has said that he was a retired officer and had been kidnapped from Iran, and that he confessed under duress to fabricated charges.
The Indian Ministry for External Affairs has vowed to fight for his release. “India remains committed to make all possible efforts to secure and protect the rights of Shri Jadhav,” an earlier statement said.
On compassionate grounds, Islamabad allowed Jadhav’s mother and wife to meet him, a move which was described by the Foreign Office spokesman Dr. Muhammad Faisal as “historic because we don’t do this for spies.”
He said that it was the first time Pakistan had allowed such a meeting, adding that it was a goodwill gesture “to show that Pakistan wants peace.”
But the meeting sparked a new row between the two countries. The two women were forced to change attire and their shoes were removed amid security concerns. Jadhav’s wife was suspected of carrying a concealed microchip, Pakistan said in response to Indian outrage.
Jadhav’s arrest has frayed relations and the shoe incident further inflamed the situation between the two nuclear-armed neighbors.
Bilateral dialogue remains suspended, but both countries have resorted to informal communication to defuse potentially explosive situations, which could escalate matters to a point of no return over several issues that remain at an impasse.
Legal expert Sharafat Ali told Arab News: “The (world) court’s final decision on both parties that consented to the ICJ proceedings is binding, but the judgment’s implementation is at the discretion of the state.”
Pakistan submits rejoinder to international court in Indian spy case
Pakistan submits rejoinder to international court in Indian spy case
- The extensive rejoinder is Pakistan’s response to India’s plea to ICJ in April
- Indian Navy Commander Jadhav was convicted in 2016 by Pakistan Military Court
France investigates two Franco-Israelis for ‘complicity in genocide’
- The warrants were issued in July last year for Nili Kupfer-Naouri of the Israel is Forever group and Rachel Touitou of the Tsav 9 group, the source close to the investigation told AFP following a French media report
PARIS: French authorities have issued warrants for two Franco-Israeli nationals for “complicity in genocide” over allegations that they tried to stop humanitarian aid entering conflict stricken Gaza, a legal source said Monday.
According to a lawyer for the NGOs that made a legal complaint last year, it is the first time that a country has considered the blocking of aid as possible “complicity in genocide.”
The warrants were issued in July last year for Nili Kupfer-Naouri of the Israel is Forever group and Rachel Touitou of the Tsav 9 group, the source close to the investigation told AFP following a French media report.
The warrants call for the two to appear before an investigating magistrate but not for their detention.
The pair are accused of seeking to block aid trucks entering Gaza between January and November 2024 and in May last year at the Nitzana and Kerem Shalom frontier posts.
Olivier Pardo, a lawyer for Kupfer-Naouri, said the “pacifist” actions sought to condemn the “hijacking” of humanitarian aid by Hamas and other groups that launched the October 7, 2023 attacks that set off the Gaza war.
“If peacefully demonstrating with an Israeli flag against a terrorist organization seizing humanitarian aid, diverting it, and reselling it at exorbitant prices to Gazans is a crime — then there is no need to look down on the mullahs, France is Iran!” said Touitou, 34, on her social media account.
In an interview with The News website, Kupfer-Naouri, 50, called the French investigation “anti-semitic madness.”
Pardo said Kupfer-Naouri was in Israel but was ready to speak to French investigators there.
The two activists are also suspected of “public provocation for genocide” by calling for aid to be prevented from reaching Gaza, the source said.
Another source close to the investigation said warrants could be issued for about 10 other people.
The complaints were made last year by the Palestinian Center for Human Rights and the rights groups Al-Haq and Al-Mezan. Clemence Bectarte, a lawyer for the groups, said it was the first investigation of its kind in genocide law.
Other legal complaints have also been made in France for “war crimes” over the deaths of Franco-Palestinian children in Gaza in an Israeli bombing raid and against two Franco-Israeli soldiers who took part in operations in the territory.
Another complaint is over the Hamas attack that set off the war.
