The United Nations General Assembly is all set to elect a permanent judge to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on Monday from two contestants—one from the United Kingdom and other from India.
This election holds special significance for Pakistan, as the ICJ is going resume the hearing of the case of Indian spy Kulbhushan Jhadav soon. Pakistan will submit its reply in the case on December 13 to the ICJ.
Dalveer Bhandari has been fielded by India and Christopher Greenwood by the UK.
Reportedly, both countries—UK and India—are trying their best to get their candidate elected for the post of the ICJ permanent judge. It may be mentioned here that the UK has not lost a single election since 1946.
An international law expert said the Pakistan, too, has a stake in the election in the context of the Jhadav’s hearing. He further claimed the nomination of Indian judge for the period of nine years would be harmful to Pakistani interests in the long term, so Pakistan must support the candidate fielded by the UK.
The legal analysts believe if India fails to get its judge elected then it will resort to nominating an ad-hoc judge, just like Pakistan did in the past by appointing Tassaduq Hussain Jillani as an ad-hoc judge.
Four judges – from France, Somalia, Brazil and Lebanon – have already been elected to ICJ. The total number of judges at the international court is 15, and a third of them are up for re-election every three years.