Reminding Pakistan of the Simla Agreement over Advisor to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz's 'taking Kashmir issue to the International Court of Justice (ICJ)' assertion, the Congress Party on Monday said Islamabad cannot succeed in any such endeavour as the accord binds the two countries to solve it bilaterally.
Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar said the issue of consular access to Kulbhushan Jadhav and Kashmir are two very different things and one cannot draw parallel between the two.
"The Simla Agreement did bind both countries down to only bilaterally finding a solution. It further added that they can use other methods if they mutually agree to do so, but, not if they not mutually agree to do so. We went to the ICJ not on the Kashmir issue, but in connection with consular access to Kulbhushan Jadhav. So, I don't see how he (Sartaj Aziz) can attempt to draw parallel between going to the court on one issue and trying to internationalise another issue," Aiyar told ANI.
Defence expert P.K. Sehgal also opined the same, saying that even if Pakistan takes up the Kashmir issue to the ICJ, India will be able to prove that it's a bilateral issue.
"I am very certain, before we went to the ICJ, every aspect was looked into. We were fully aware of the fact that Pakistan would like to nefarious issues to the ICJ. India was conscious that Pakistan would try to exploit this. However, Pakistan is forgetting that Simla Agreement has been universally accepted, by the United Nations, European Union, America and China. Even China has said that Kashmir is a bilateral issue and has to be resolved bilaterally," Sehgal told ANI.
Aziz earlier on Saturday said that India has made a mistake by going to the ICJ as it has now paved the way for Pakistan to raise the matter of alleged humanitarian violations in Kashmir.
While answering to the question as to why Pakistan entered the ICJ on the Kulbhushan Jadhav matter, he said Pakistan is a member state of the United Nations and the decision was taken after consultation.
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