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Prime Minister Narendra Modi thanked External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj for her stewardship of Kulbhushan Jadhav’s case at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague. The prime minister also appreciated the efforts of senior advocate Harish Salve who argued India’s case against Pakistan. Modi expressed satisfaction over the ICJ’s order to Pakistan against executing the former navy officer pending final decision.

In a series of tweets, Sushma said the order comes as “a great relief to the family of Kulbhushan Jadhav and the people of India” and promised “that under the leadership of Prime Minister Modi we will leave no stone unturned” to save the former navy officer. Sushma also thanked Salve for his efforts. “We are grateful to Mr.Harish Salve for presenting India’s case so effectively before ICJ,” she tweeted. She also complimented her team of officers in the ministry for their effort and hard work.

After Modi, Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Finance and Defence Minister Arun Jaitley tweeted in quick succession praising Sushma. Jaitley also appreciated Salve’s efforts, saying that he had done “India proud”. He said the verdict endorses the relevance and necessity of procedural and substantive fairness which was denied by Pakistan. Urban Development Minister Venkaiah Naidu also termed the verdict as a “major victory for India”.

Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi said Pakistan’s charade has been shattered with the ICJ verdict. “The entire thing was a charade, Pakistan (is) completely blown by this decision. Salve’s strategy saw him, in an emergency hearing on May 15 , requesting the ICJ to order Islamabad to suspend Jadhav’s execution. The ICJ said that it saw merit in India’s arguments.

Rejecting Pakistan’s argument that the court did not have jurisdiction in the matter, the ICJ accepted Salve’s reasoning that it could hear the case because it involved, on the face of it, a violation of one of the clauses of the Vienna Convention, which both Pakistan and India ascribe to.