Pakistan has nominated former chief justice Tassaduq Hussain Jillani to be its Judge Ad hoc in Kulbhushan Jadhav case in the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and it was also communicated to the court on Wednesday, Foreign Office said. Foreign Office Spokesperson Nafees Zakaria said in a statement that the procedures of the ICJ allow a party to nominate a judge ad hoc in circumstances where there is no judge of the court who has that party's nationality.
Currently, he stated that there is no judge of the court that has Pakistani nationality; whereas Judge Bhandari from India sits as a judge of the court. Those appointed as judge ad hoc are treated as having the same authority on the court as any of the sitting judges, he added. He said that the court 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 Jadhav case.
Justice Jillani served as a judge of the Supreme Court of Pakistan from 31st July 2004 to 11th December 2013 and subsequently as the 21st chief justice of Pakistan from 11th December 2013 to 5th July 2014. In May this year, the ICJ panel had asked Pakistan to stay the death penalty of the Indian RAW agent Jadhav till a final judgment is passed.