- Justice Tasadduq, Justice Nasir-ul-Mulk, Makhdoom Ali Khan named as ad-hoc judge appointment at ICJ
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) Thursday sought the views of Pakistan and India on time required for the submission of their written pleadings and supporting evidence, called memorials.
“The Attorney General informed the ICJ of Pakistan’s intent to appoint a judge ad-hoc, who will sit on the bench of the court for all proceedings in this case, including the substantive hearing,” reads an official handout issued here by the attorney general’s office.
A well-placed source informed Pakistan Today that Pakistan had presented three names for the appointment of one ad-hoc judge to be a part of the hearing of the ICJ case, including two former judges of the Supreme Court and one former attorney general.
“Pakistan has nominated former chief justices Justice (R) Tasadduq Hussain Jilani, Justice (R) Nasir-ul-Mulk and former attorney-general for Pakistan Makhdoom Ali Khan for the appointment of one ad-hoc judge to hear the case,” the source said.
Pakistan has sought the hearing of the case at the earliest, as Attorney General Ashtar Ausaf Ali urged the court to adopt an expedited timetable, with a view for an early substantive hearing. The court will announce the timetable shortly.
Delegations of Pakistan and India attended a meeting with the ICJ President Ronny Abraham to discuss the timelines in the Commander Kulbhushan Jadhav’s case.
Commander Jadhav is a serving Indian naval officer, who was arrested from Balochistan for being involved in acts of sabotage against Pakistan.
“The registrar of the court and other court officials were also present in the meeting. This was not a hearing, and no discussion on the substance or merits of the case took place. The purpose of the meeting was only to discuss procedural matters, including the timelines for submission of written memorials and to enable a hearing to be listed,” says the statement.
The delegation of Pakistan was led by the Attorney General for Pakistan Ashtar Ausaf Ali. Other members of the delegation included Director General for South Asia in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Dr Mohammad Faisal, Head of International Disputes Unit in the Office of the Attorney General Ahmad Irfan Aslam, and Counsel for Pakistan Khawar Qureshi QC.
The Indian application sought “at least release or acquittal” of Commander Jadhav—a situation made clear by Pakistan’s Counsel Khawar Qureshi on 15 May 15, 2017, that India can never obtain this from the ICJ.
As has also been explained previously, the court on May 18, 2017, made a procedural order to enable a full hearing to take place. It did not make any finding on jurisdiction or merits. Pakistan’s arguments on jurisdiction and merits will be considered by the court at the full hearing.
As can be seen from paragraph 60 of the court order of May 18, 2017, itself, the Court stated that it “in no way prejudged jurisdiction, admissibility or merits”.
“The government of Pakistan is fully confident that India can never succeed in its application. India can never obtain acquittal or release of Commander Jadhav on the basis of its application to the International Court,” the statement concluded.