After Pakistan's Justice Tassaduq Hussain Jillani was unable to swear in as an adhoc judge for the Kulbhushan Jadhav case at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in Hague on Monday, the court refused to entertain its request to adjourn the hearing in the case. The four-day hearing began on Monday and opened amidst tension between the countries following a terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama which killed 40 CRPF soldiers. The responsibility for the attack was claimed by Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad terror group.
Pakistan requested the judge to adjourn the case citing the illness of its adhoc judge, Jillani who is said to have suffered a cardiac attack ahead of the hearing.
Attorney General Anwar Mansoor Khan, who is representing Pakistan, at the start of the hearing said: "We applied our right provided to us that we can appoint an ad hoc judge.
"But since our judge is indispensable at this point. In light of the above Pakistan would like to place before the court that another judge to be sworn in which right has been provided under article 35-5 and the judge be given ample amount of time to go through the briefings before going ahead with arguments," he said.
But the the world court declined Pakistan's plea and asked it to continue argument in the absence on ad-hoc judge.
On the first day of hearing, India urged the ICJ to annul Jadhav's death sentence and order his immediate release, saying the verdict by a Pakistani military court based on a "farcical case" hopelessly fails to satisfy even the minimum standards of due process.
Jadhav, a retired Indian Navy officer, was sentenced to death by a Pakistani military court on charges of "espionage and terrorism" after a closed trial in April 2017. His sentencing evoked a sharp reaction in India.
India moved the ICJ in May the same year for the "egregious violation" of the provisions of the Vienna Convention by Pakistan by repeatedly denying New Delhi consular access to the 48-year-old Indian national.
Under Article 31 of the Statute of the Court, a State party to a case before the International Court of Justice which does not have a judge of its nationality on the Bench may choose a person to sit as judge ad hoc in that specific case.
It follows that the composition of the International Court of Justice will vary from one case to another, and that the number of judges sitting in a given case will not necessarily be 15.
(With inputs from Mandira Nayar)
