By Arul Louis

United Nations, Oct 29 (IANS): The International Court of Justice decision in the Kulbhushan Jadhav case has contributed to the lessening of tension between India and Pakistan, the court's president, its President Judge Abduylqawi Yusuf said on Tuesday.

The dispute between India and Pakistan "was a very delicate and sensitive issue because it concerned the life of a person who was sentenced to death in Pakistan and it created a lot of tension between the two countries", he said at a news conference here.

"We are happy that the judgment of the court has contributed to the diminution and reduction of that tension since then," he said.

After hearing a case brought by India against the death penalty imposed by a Pakistani military court on Jadhav, the court ruled in July that Islamabad must review the case and stay the execution pending the review and its outcome.

The court agreed with India that the trial was unfair and ruled by a 15-1 verdict that Jadhav's rights under international convention had been violated because Indian diplomats were denied access to him and could not help him.

The Vienna Convention of Consular Relations required Pakistan to allow him to meet Indian diplomats.

Jadhav, a retired Indian Navy commander, was tried by a Pakistani military court and sentenced to death in April 2017 on charges of spying and supporting terrorism.

India says that he was kidnapped from Iran and brought to Pakistan.

Indian sources say that a terrorist organisation, Jaish ul-Adl, abducted him in Sarbaz in Iran and handed him over to Pakistani military, which brought him to Balochistan Province.