Pakistan on Thursday said that there would be no deal with India in connection with the case of former Indian Navy officer Kulbhushan Jadhav. “Absolutely no deal on Kulbhushan,” Foreign Office Spokesperson Mohammad Faisal said during a weekly media briefing in Islamabad. “We will honour the ICJ judgement in light of the laws of Pakistan and there should be no doubt about it.”

Jadhav was sentenced to death in 2016 in Pakistan. His execution was stayed after India moved the international court against the verdict in May 2017. India had contended in the court in The Hague that the lack of consular access was a violation of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations.

Faisal also reiterated a statement made by the Director General Inter Services Public Relations Major General Asif Gharoor on Wednesday. “Speculations for amendment in Pak Army Act to implement ICJ verdict regarding convicted Indian terrorist Cdr Kulbhushan Jadhav are incorrect,” Gharoor had tweeted. “Various legal options for review and reconsideration of the case are being considered. Final status shall be shared in due course of time.”

In July, the International Court of Justice had concluded that Pakistan had violated the Vienna Convention in its treatment of Jadhav and ordered Islamabad not to execute him at the moment. Article 36 of the convention mandates that consular officers had the right to visit a national of their country detained or taken into custody on foreign shores “to converse and correspond with him and to arrange for his legal representation”.

On October 30, ICJ President Judge Abdulqawi Yusuf told the United Nations General Assembly that Pakistan had violated its obligations under the Vienna Convention in Jadhav’s case.

India maintains that Kulbhushan Jadhav was working on his private business in Iran when he was kidnapped by Pakistan.

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