By Haider Mehdi.

It gets curioser and curioser. And, God Forbid, of an extremely tragic and high handed conspiracy at the highest levels of our Government!

Pakistan filed a declaration in the United Nations, submitted by Dr. Maleeha Lodhi, accepting the International Court of Justice’s compulsory jurisdiction on all cases brought by or against Pakistan.

Pakistan being one of 72 Countries which has filed this declaration. India has also filed a similar declaration.

But theirs a big difference.

India filed theirs in 1974.

Pakistan filed theirs on 29th March, 2017. A few days before Kulbashan was sentenced to death in Pakistan.

By submitting this declaration Pakistan has accepted the “compulsory jurisdiction” of the International Court of Justice.

So If this isn’t doesnt stink of a conspiracy to get Kulbashan freed, than Altaf Hussain must be Pakistan’s Greatest Patriot!

Some questions.

1. While the declaration does specify conditions to the compulsory jurisdiction, the question is why now?

2. What was the urgency to submit this now just a few days before Kulbashan’s sentencing?

3. Why did it take the Nawaz Government in power for 4 years, to file it a few days before Kulbashan’s sentencing.

4. Why didn’t ANY GOVERNMENT OF PAKISTAN, thought it useful for Pakistan to file such a declaration since 1947?

5. Why was this major commitment given to the ICJ without any consultation,  debate or discussion in Parliament?

6. Is their a record of it being discussed and debated in the Cabinet?

The following extract from the ICJ website explains what “compulsory jurisdiction” means.

“Declarations Recognizing the Jurisdiction of the Court as Compulsory

The States parties to the Statute of the Court may “at any time declare that they recognize as compulsory ipso facto and without special agreement, in relation to any other State accepting the same obligation, the jurisdiction of the Court” (Art 36, para. 2 of the Statute).

Each State which has recognized the compulsory jurisdiction of the Court has in principle the right to bring any one or more other State which has accepted the same obligation before the Court by filing an application instituting proceedings with the Court, and, conversely, it has undertaken to appear before the Court should proceedings be instituted against it by one or more such other States.

The Declarations Recognizing as Compulsory the Jurisdiction of the Court take the form of a unilateral act of the State concerned and are deposited with the Secretary-General of the United Nations.

The texts of declarations under Article 36, paragraph 2, of the Statute, which, based on the information provided by the depository, had not expired by effluxion of time, or whose withdrawal or replacement had not been notified by 17 May 2017 will be found below.

The fact that a declaration is or is not included in this section, is without prejudice to its possible application by the Court in a particular case.

In view of the provisions of Article 36, paragraph 5, of the Statute of the International Court of Justice, the present section also contains the texts of declarations made under the Statute of the Permanent Court of International Justice which have not lapsed or been withdrawn. There are now six such declarations.

The declarations, deposited by a total of 72 States, are given here in English. Where this is not the original language of the declaration, the translations used, except where otherwise indicated, are by the Secretariat of the United Nations or of the League of Nations.

The following declaration have been filed with the Secretary-General of the United Nations (the date shown after the name of the State is that on which the declaration was deposited) :

Pakistan. 29 March, 2017.

Here’s the  link to the INTERNATIONAL COURT OF JUSTICE Jurisdiction web site and the list of countries who have submitted similar declaration.

To see click the URL and scroll down and click on Pakistan!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *