ICJ verdict on jurisdiction in Atlantique case today

THE HAGUE, JUNE 20. The International Court of Justice (ICJ) will deliver its judgment here tomorrow on whether it had the jurisdiction to adjudicate the dispute raised by Pakistan with India over the shooting down of the former's naval aircraft in the Kutch region last August.

The verdict of the 15-judge Bench will be pronounced by the court's president, Mr. Gilbert Guillaume, of France at a public sitting in the Great Hall of Justice of the `peace palace'.

The verdict is final without appeal and should one of the parties fail to comply with it, the other can have recourse to the United Nations Security Council, according to the court procedures. The court is the U.N.'s principal judicial organ.

Pakistan wants the court to intervene while India is opposed to its assumption of jurisdiction on the basis of Islamabad's application.

Pakistan has urged the court to ``dismiss the objections raised by India and accept its jurisdiction''. India maintains that none of Pakistan's arguments is `sound' and does not provide a basis for invoking the court's jurisdiction.

Public hearings in the case titled `aerial incident of August 10, 1999 (Pakistan vs India)' lasted four days ending April 6 last. These centred on the court's jurisdiction, which must be determined before the case's merits can be considered by the 15 judges.

Pakistan has accused India of shooting down the `unarmed' Atlantique aircraft killing all the 16 naval personnel on board and is seeking about $ 60 millions in reparations from India and compensation for the victims' families.

India argued that the court does not have jurisdiction, citing an exemption it filed in 1974 to exclude disputes between India and other Commonwealth States, and disputes covered by multi-lateral treaties.

- PTI

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Section  : International
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