The Pakistan federal government, on August 15, 2017, initiated its consultations over nominating an ad hoc judge for the panel in the Kulbhushan Jadav Case, in the International Court of Justice.

The case was filed in the court when both India and Pakistan consented on getting the issue decided by the diverse panel of the ICJ. India moved to the Hague based Court, when Kulbhushan Jadav, an alleged Indian spy, arrested in Balochistan, was awarded the sentence of death. On subsequent request, he was not presented before the Indian Diplomats.

The International Court of Justice, in its last hearing, had stayed the execution of the sentence till further hearing. The Pakistan Government is considering the nomination of former Chief Justice Tassaduq Hussain Jilani and former Jordanian premier Awn Shawkat Al-Khasawneh for inclusion in the panel of judges, sitting for the case.

The report revealing the following information also reported that during the term of the ousted Prime Minister Mr. Nawaz Sharif, former Supreme Court judge Khalilur Rehman Ramday was approached, but it was subsequently declined by the latter.

The Senior Lawyer, Mr. Makdoom Ali Khan, who had announced the nominees, has been reported to have experience in international arbitration cases and has represented 8 countries in the International Courts.

Article 31 of the ICJ’s statute states that if the panel includes “a judge of the nationality of one of the parties, (the other) party may choose a person to sit as judge”. An ad hoc judge can also be chosen if the panel includes “no judge of the nationality of the parties”. The nomination of the ad-hoc judge will be finalized after getting inputs from the Foreign Office and the military establishment