INDIA
Nafees Zakaria blamed India for weaving a humanitarian angle in Jadhav's case to divert the world's attention from his real actions — fomenting terrorism inside Pakistan
Facing embarrassment at home, Pakistan’s Foreign Office spokesman Nafees Zakaria questioned the ICJ’s jurisdiction over the county’s national security matters as the Pakistani press expressed shock and disappointment over the court’s decision to stay the execution of alleged Indian spy Kulbhushan Jadhav by lashing out at the legal team for presenting “weak” and “damaging” arguments.
Zakaria blamed India for weaving a humanitarian angle in Jadhav's case to divert the world's attention from his real actions — fomenting terrorism inside Pakistan.
A Pakistani daily played up Zakaria's comment and carried a headline that read: "ICJ verdict was leaked to India ahead of time: Pakistan Foreign Office".
Quoting former Chief Justice of the Sind High Court, Shaiq Usmani, a Pakistani newspaper said the decision to stay Jadhav's execution was alarming as it did not fall under ICJ's jurisdiction.
"It's Pakistse on jurisdiction and it proved "weak". "More arguments should have been made regarding espionage," she said.
Politician Sherry Rehman, a Pakistan Peoples' Party member, also termed the case as "weak". "We based our case on jurisdiction and it proved weak. More arguments should have been made regarding espionage," she said.
Lawyer Feisal Naqvi said the issue was a question of consular access. "The question is not whether he should be hung. The question is whether he can get consular access," Naqvi said. Shireen Mazari, leader of Pakistan's Tehreek-e-Insaf , said she had predicted in her earlier tweets that the ICJ decision was a foregone conclusion.
London-based Barrister Rashid Aslam blamed Pakistan's lack of preparation and wasting 40 of the 90 minutes it was given to make its arguments.
"I was surprised why we finished our arguments in such little time. I think Khawar Qureshi didn't consume all the time that was afforded to him,"Aslam said.
"Pakistan had the right to set up a judge there, but we didn't do that. I think Pakistan was grossly unprepared. It might be that we didn't have enough time…" he added.