Pakistan’s latest declaration limiting the circumstances under which it will subject itself to the jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) will have no bearing on the Kulbhushan Jadhav consular access matter that India has raised before the world court, say legal experts.
“This case is not being brought by India under the court’s compulsory jurisdiction in the ICJ Statute, Article 36(2), as recognised by both India and Pakistan. Hence the declaration has no effect whatsoever,” said Shashank Kumar, a Geneva-based public international lawyer, who was the first Indian judicial law-clerk at the ICJ, as well as a legal