Quoting the application, filed on Tuesday, the International Court of Justice said Pakistan had asked it to declare that India bore exclusive legal responsibility for the attack.

Pakistan believed India was obliged to ``make reparations to...Pakistan for the loss of the aircraft and as compensation to the heirs of those killed'' in the August 10 incident, the court said.

Islamabad said the plane, a French-built Atlantique naval surveillance aircraft, crashed in Pakistan after being shot down near the border while on a routine training mission. India said the aircraft had intruded into its airspace.

Pakistan said India's actions had breached ``obligations assumed by it under the charter of the United Nations and the relevant rules of customary international law and treatyprovisions''.

The shooting down heightened tension between the two countries only a month after they had ended a serious confrontation in the Kargil sector of Kashmir.

In August, Pakistan lodged an official complaint with the United Nations calling the incident an ``act of military aggression'' and demanded from India 60.2 million dollars in compensation for the loss of the plane and its 16 personnel.

Pak case untenable: India