The Indian hopes lie on the twin points that the case, a consular matter, is not about the compulsory jurisdiction of the ICJ over a matter. On March 29, Pakistan had revised its declaration on compulsory jurisdiction, which spells out terms under which Islamabad accepts the ICJ on matters of dispute settlement. While it could argue Pakistan could have anticipated the possibility of India moving ICJ, informed sources said the ‘compulsory jurisdiction’ is not an issue here. “In this case, India invokes the Optional Protocol of the VCCR. The bases for jurisdiction are separate from what happened in 1999 where in an aerial incident, ICJ upheld Indian view on jurisdiction,” said a source.

Source: Hindustan Times May 13, 2017 16:07 UTC