India, July 23 -- Faced with the near unanimous verdict of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) (15:1) on the imprisonment of India's former Naval officer, Islamabad buckled on July 19, 2019, and informed Commander Kulbhushan Jadhav of his rights under Article 36 of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, 1963, and promised consular access. It follows that Pakistan has also accepted the ICJ's directive to stay Jadhav's execution until the judicial process is reviewed in a fair and transparent manner, bringing huge relief to his family and to India, though concerns for his future remain high.

There is still no clarity that Pakistan will allow retrial in a civilian court. Its leaders tried to hype the fact that the court rejected ...