Pakistan does not accept ICJ's jurisdiction in national security matters: Foreign office

Pakistan does not accept the International Court of Justice's jurisdiction in matters related to national security, its Foreign Office said today after the UN court stayed the execution of Indian national Kulbhushan Jadhav.

 Foreign Office spokesman Nafees Zakaria also hit out at India, saying the country has been "trying to hide its real face" by taking the case of Jadhav to ICJ. Jadhav, 46, was sentenced to death in March by a Pakistani military court



and India approached the highest UN judicial body with the plea to stay his execution.

The Hague-based ICJ heard the two sides on Monday where Pakistan had challenged the jurisdiction of the court but in its decision the court prime facie exercised the jurisdiction and accepted Indian pleas. The court today instructed Pakistan to take all "necessary measures at its disposal" to ensure that Jadhav was not executed pending a final decision by it.