India cannot claim victory in Jadhav's case at the ICJ as the court has issued "just a procedural order", the lawyer who represented Pakistan in the case has said.
India cannot claim victory in Kulbhushan Jadhav's case at the International Court of Justice as the court has issued "just a procedural order", the lawyer who represented Pakistan in the case has said.
Khawar Qureshi said Jadhav's case is more about political point scoring than about the law.
"The order issued by the ICJ is just a procedural order to enable full hearing. It certainly is not a victory for India by any means," Geo TV quoted Qureshi as saying.
"It was very clear that the court didn’t want to hear about the merits or the jurisdiction. The court wanted to be satisfied whether commander Jadhav had been denied consular access, which he had," he said.
Qureshi criticised the Indian government and the media for running a vicious and baseless campaign against him. "It is very disappointing that India should stoop to this level. I understand that someone said I had charged 720,000 in legal fees pounds. Where did this figure come from? This is nonsense," he lamented.
He also cautioned the Pakistani media not to pick up everything India is saying.
"My fees were not even 10 per cent of what the Indian propaganda suggests. I cancelled another professional commitment with another government to travel to Pakistan urgently. I gave a 30 per cent reduction on my fees, besides covering the cost of two of my juniors' fees," he added.
The Pakistani-origin lawyer who represented Pakistan in the Kulbhushan Jadhav case at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) had been hired by the UPA government in 2004 to argue an arbitration case, the BJP said today.
BJP slam Congress for hiring Qureshi in 2004
Accusing the Congress of being Pakistan's voice on a host of issues, BJP spokesperson G V L Narsimha Rao said the the party must explain why its government hired Khawar Qureshi in the "very sensitive" Enron case.
The Congress-led UPA government had changed the legal team representing India in the arbitration case against the US firm over the controversial Dabhol power project, he said.
This was a question linked to "patriotism", Rao told reporters.
"What was the compulsion that the UPA government hired Qureshi?... Over the last few years we have seen several incidents of the Congress speaking in support of Pakistan. It was speaking in Pakistan's voice on the surgical strikes as well," Rao told reporters.
Citing the example of Harish Salve, who was the lead counsel for India at the ICJ this week, he said it was surprising that the UPA government could not find an Indian lawyer to represent the country in such a sensitive case.
Rao named Congress leaders Salman Khurshid and Mani Shankar Aiyar as instances of Congress leaders allegedly speaking in support of Pakistan.
The ICJ this week stayed the execution of Indian national Kulbhushan Jadhav, who was arrested by Pakistan on charges of espionage and subversive activities. While Pakistan claims he was nabbed from Balochistan, India maintains that he was kidnapped from Iran where he had business interests after retiring from the Indian Navy.
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
 "Khawar Qureshi")
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}