Kulbhushan Jadhav has been sentenced to death by a Pakistani military court over alleged "espionage".
Highlights
- World court had asked Pak to hold Jadhav's execution till its verdict
- 'Irrespective' of that, Jadhav to stay alive pending his mercy plea: Pak
- World court ruling 'nothing but usual', says Pak
Pakistan has said that Kulbhushan Jadhav will not be executed until he has exhausted all his mercy appeals, "irrespective" of the recent ruling by the International Court of Justice halting his death sentence for now.
"Irrespective of the stay by the ICJ, Jadhav will remain alive until he has exhausted the right to request for clemency, initially with the army chief and later with the President," Foreign Office spokesperson Nafees Zakaria said.
The International Court of Justice had recently ordered Islamabad to put on hold Mr Jadhav's death sentence pending a decision on India's appeal in the case.
"Pakistan shall take all measures at its disposal to ensure that Mr Jadhav is not executed pending the final decision in these proceedings,"
the top UN court ruled on May 19.
Mr Zakaria described the ruling as "nothing but usual" and said the Indian petition at the UN court was about Mr Jadhav's entitlement to consular access. "It is not about whether the ICJ can act as a Court of Appeal from Pakistani legal proceedings. That is why Barrister Khawar Qureshi informed the Court that India cannot obtain from the Court what it is seeking. He also told the Court that India is using media to create false impression about the case," he said.
The spokesperson claimed that India had not provided information sought on January 23 by Islamabad on Mr Jadhav.
The UN court announced its interim ruling on India's urgent appeal accusing Pakistan of violating the Vienna Convention, which guarantees diplomatic help to foreigners accused of capital crimes.
Mr Jadhav, 47, was arrested in March 2016 and Pakistani officials claimed he had confessed to spying for Indian intelligence services. He was sentenced to death by a Pakistani military court last month.
Mr Jadhav was "an innocent Indian national, who, incarcerated in Pakistan for more than a year on concocted charges has been held incommunicado... and faces imminent execution," India told the world tribunal.