A day after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) stayed the execution of retired Indian Navy officer Kulbhushan Jadhav, Pakistan High Commissioner to India Abdul Basit on Friday said his country would abide by the court’s ruling as a responsible member of the International community. In an interview to The Statesman, Basit said Pakistan was not in the habit of indulging in “flip flops” to cater to ad-hocism.

“As a responsible member of the ICJ and international community we have to adhere to principles, laws and abide by our bilateral and multilateral obligations,” Basit said.

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He said like all other countries in the world, Pakistan too does not concede sovereignty when it comes to security issues. “You must understand that Commander Jadhav has been convicted of sabotage and terrorism in Pakistan. Now staying his execution from our perspective is inconsequential in the sense that he was not being executed yesterday,” he said. He added, "According to our own procedures, if it all his mercy petition was dismissed he would have been executed by end August or during that time frame. So there was no emergency involved."

Jadhav was sentenced to death after Pakistan’s military court found him guilty of “espionage”.

Basit said staying Jadhav’s execution is a provisional order and the ICJ has very clearly said it would not have any bearing on the final judgment.

On consular access to Jadhav, Basit said the ICJ in its provisional order discussed the issue in the context of plausibility, “so there is no ruling on the issue of consular access”.

He said Pakistan was considering providing strong evidence against Jadhav in the ICJ to prove his involvement in “terrorist” activities. “We need to understand as to why Commander Jadhav was captured. Why was he in Pakistan, and on what charges he was convicted.

“He is not an ordinary citizen. He was convicted for sabotage, subversion and terrorism, so this context should be kept in view.