Former Indian Supreme Court judge Markandey Katju has said that India's decision to approach the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in the case of Indian spy Kulbushan Jadhav is in fact "a serious mistake" on New Delhi's part.
In a Facebook post, Katju, who is also the former chairman of the Press Council of India, was of the opinion that the move had in fact created an opening for Pakistan to approach the ICJ to look at "many other issues", including the Kashmir dispute.
Voicing his concern about India's decision to approach the ICJ, Katju said the reason why Pakistan did not seriously object to the question of jurisdiction was because it may in fact benefit Islamabad on other fronts.
Examine: Jadhav’s case
"Now it is certain that Pakistan will approach the ICJ for deciding the Kashmir dispute...Pakistan must be very happy that we went to the ICJ over a single individual's fate, as now they can raise all kinds of issues, particularly Kashmir, in international fora, to which we had always objected till now. By going to the ICJ we may have opened up a Pandora's box," Katju said.
Earlier this week, the ICJ restrained Islamabad from executing convicted Indian spy Kulbushan Jadhav until a final verdict in a case before it that seeks to declare Pakistan's conviction of Jadhav "illegal".
Jadhav was arrested on March 3, 2016, through a counter-intelligence operation in Balochistan's Mashkel area for his involvement in espionage and sabotage activities against Pakistan. He was subsequently sentenced to death by a Pakistani Field General Court Martial (FGCM) in April this year. India has termed the death sentence awarded to Jadhav “an act of premeditated murder.”
