Appointment of former CJP was taken after consultation with military, civil and legal officer
The government of Pakistan has appointed former Chief Justice of Pakistan Tassaduq Hussain Jilani as ad-hoc judge at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to defend Pakistan’s side in the Kulbhushan Jadhav case.
According to sources the decision to appoint the former chief justice was taken after consultation with all the stakeholders including military, civil and legal officers as refusing consular access to India despite repeated requests.
Prime Minister endorsed the decision by signing the summary which was sent by the law ministry in regards of appointment of former Chief Justice as ad-hoc judge at ICJ to represent Pakistan.
Under Article 13 of the International Court of Justice, Pakistan has the discretion to appoint an ad-hoc judge to defend its stance. The team of lawyers defending Pakistan’s side was previously led by lawyer Khawar Qureshi.
Currently there is no judge of the court that has Pakistani nationality, whereas Judge Bhandari from India sits as a judge of the court.
Justice Jillani is the cousin of former foreign secretary Jalil Abbas Jilani. He was nominated to the Lahore High Court bench by former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto in the 1990s.
He also authored the Supreme Court’s judicial anthem and was among the Supreme Court judges who had refused to take oath under the provisional constitutional order on November 3 2007.
The ICJ will now notify India that former Chief Justice Jillani has been nominated by Pakistan to sit as a judge ad-hoc of the court in the Kulbhushan Yadav case.
Indian Naval official Kulbhushan Yadav was arrested by Pakistani authorities from Balochistan province last year. After a military trial, he had been sentenced to death. His appeal is pending before the Army Chief General Qamar Bajwa.