Govt, army to stand united in ICJ against India: Pak National Assembly Speaker

Lahore: Pakistan's National Assembly Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq has said that the civilian government and the Pakistan Army would jointly fight the Kulbhushan Jadhav case in the International Court of Justice (ICJ) against India.

He stressed, "It is time to be united," even as he denounced the trend of harming the national interest for the sake of securing political ground, as reported by The Nation.

"We have already suffered much in the past. This trend of causing damage to national interest in order to protect personal ones should be shunned," he added.

Alleged Indian spy and former Indian Naval Officer Kulbhushan Jadhav was sentenced to death by a Pakistan military court in April on charges of espionage and terrorism.

India reacted to the verdict by taking the matter to the International Court of Justice (ICJ), headquartered in The Hague, accusing Pakistan of 'farcical trial' in the matter of Jadhav.

India contended that it was not informed about Jadhav's detention until long after his arrest and that Pakistan failed to inform him of his rights. It further alleged that Pakistan has committed 'egregious violation of the Vienna Convention' and repeatedly denied consular access to Jadhav.

ICJ announced its verdict on May 18 pronouncing that Pakistan should not execute Jadhav until the final decision of the court and that he should be granted consular access.