Hague, February 18: Days after one of the deadliest attacks on Indian forces in Pulwama, Deepak Mittal, joint secretary at the Ministry of External Affairs, on Monday avoided shaking hand with Pakistani officials at the International Court of Justice in Hague. Mittal greeted Pakistan Attorney General Anwar Mansoor Khan and other officials with Namaste and avoided shaking hand with them.

Before the hearing began at the ICJ in Kulbhushan Jadhav case, Khan reached out to Mittal to shake his hand but the latter ignored the handshake gesture and folded his hands to greet him with a Namaste. The MEA official also greeted other Pakistani officials with Namaste and didn't shake hand with them. Representatives of the two countries arrived at the ICJ for oral proceedings in Kulbhushan Jadhav case. Pakistan to Present Strong Case Against Kulbhushan Jadhav: Shah Mehmood Qureshi.

During today's hearing, India's counsel Harish Salve reiterated the continued custody of Indian national Kulbhushan Jadhav in Pakistan jail was unlawful and demanded his release saying Islamabad has seriously violated various provisions of the 1963 Vienna Convention and other protocols. India also insisted on consular access for Jadhav, awarded death sentence by a Pakistani military court in 2016 in an alleged espionage case.

Here's the video:

"I consider myself honoured to present India's case here to save an innocent Indian. The basis on which India is pursuing the case are: First issue relates to construction of the Vienna Convention, consular access was not granted," Salve said accusing Pakistan of raising issues that have no relevance to the case. He was presenting his arguments after India and Pakistan filed memorials and counter-memorials in the case in which the ICJ had in May 2017 stayed Jadhav's execution.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Feb 18, 2019 05:49 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).