Pakistan continues to sling mud at India through a statement wherein it has accused its neighbor of trying to sabotage the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) using Kulbhushan Jadhav’s case at the International Court of Justice.
Jadhav, a 47-year-old former Indian naval officer, is on death row in Pakistan after the country’s military in a secret trial in April found him guilty of espionage and terrorism. Jadhav’s death sentence was stayed in May after a ruling by the ICJ on India’s appeal. The hearing in the case is set to resume this month at The Hague-based court.
Minister Ahsan Iqbal said Jadhav’s case was a proof of India’s intentions to sabotage the USD 50-billion CPEC through terrorism. He said the CPEC was a result of unprecedented friendship between China and Pakistan. “Nobody can reverse it, it will succeed at any cost,” he was quoted as saying in the report.
But India maintains Jadhav was kidnapped from Iran where he had business interests after retiring from the Indian Navy.
India opposes the CPEC, a part of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s ambitious Belt and Road initiative, as it passes through the Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK).
