Pakistan has been ordered to halt the execution of a former Indian naval officer by thee International Court of Justice till the final decision is arrived by the court.

In a case that has raised tensions between the nuclear-armed South Asian neighbors, India took Pakistan to the court over the death sentence handed down to Kulbhushan Jadhav for alleged espionage and sabotage activities.

Judge Ronny Abraham read out the unanimous order from the ICJ, the principal judicial organ of the United Nations. “Pakistan shall take all measures at its disposal to ensure that Mr. Jadhav is not executed pending the final decision in these proceedings and shall inform the Court of all the measures taken in implementation of the present Order,” the court ruled, according a statement.

India’s claim to consular access under the Vienna Convention were not found to be void despite accusations of espionage, the court said. Necessary urgency for the court to implement provisional measures was provided by the severity of a death sentence, the judge also stated.

“The ICJ order has come as a great relief to the family of Kulbhushan Jadhav and people of India,” said external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj. Prime Minister Narendra Modi “will leave no stone unturned to save” Jadhav, she tweeted.

The ICJ’s measures had no bearing on the final decision of the court, tBottom of Form

he office of Pakistan’s attorney-general Ashtar Ausaf Ali said. “We had assured the court unambiguously that Commander Jadhav would be provided every opportunity and remedy available under the law to defend his case,” the attorney general’s office said in a statement. “Commander Jadhav still has ample time to petition for clemency.”

According to the statement, a final hearing be held on the merits of the case as early as possible, Pakistan had proposed to the court on May 15. “We are determined to pursue this case to its logical end.”

The two countries have fought several conflicts since the partition of British India in 1947 and the case, being argued at The Hague, has strained already tense relations between the two countries.

“Pakistan will find it difficult to send Jadhav to the gallows before a full trial at the ICJ is conducted,” said Harsh Pant, an international relations professor with King’s College London. The ICJ “has sided with India that there is evidence of a danger of Jadhav being executed before the hearing is complete — this makes life difficult for Pakistan.”

Islamabad accused Jadhav of carrying out “terrorist activities aimed at destabilizing Pakistan” on behalf of India’s foreign intelligence agency, the Research & Analysis Wing.

the death sentence — if carried out — would be treated as a case of premeditated murder, the military trial in Pakistan was “farcical” and Jadhav was kidnapped from Iran, India’s foreign ministry said.

Before taking the case to the ICJ, India had repeatedly and unsuccessfully sought consular access to Jadhav.

“For time being it will bring Pakistan under some political pressure as the Indians now have an ICJ stay order in hand,” said Shaista Tabassum, chairwoman of the international relations department at the University of Karachi of the court’s decision. It was a positive step that India had shifted from “bilateralism to multilateralism in its dealing with Pakistan-related disputes,” she said.

(Adapted from Bloomberg)

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