Pakistan to appoint ad hoc judge at ICJ

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has decided to appoint its ad hoc judge at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) which is hearing a plea filed by India against the sentencing of Indian spy Kulbhushan Jadhav, who has been awarded capital punishment by a military court for ‘fomenting terrorism in Balochistan and Karachi’.

Attorney General for Pakistan (AGP) Ashtar Ausaf Ali will be leading Pakistan’s legal team at the next hearing of the case on June 8 at the United Nations’ court which stayed Jadhav’s execution on May 18 — an order that India projected as its victory and Pakistan downplayed as procedural court matter.

The decisions were communicated on Tuesday in an in-camera meeting of the Parliamentary Committee on National Security – chaired by National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq. The AGP briefed the meeting about the steps Pakistan is taking for its effective defence of the case at the ICJ.

In the parliamentary panel’s meeting earlier on May 23, the committee had expressed outright dissatisfaction over Pakistan’s legal strategy to deal with Jadhav’s case at the ICJ. It said the government’s ‘lack of preparation’ had resulted in allowing New Delhi to get a provisional stay order against the military court’s verdict, sources reported.

On Tuesday, the government tried to allay reservations of the committee and the AGP assured the members that Pakistan was taking maximum steps to effectively counter India in the case.

Sources told The Express Tribune that the AGP informed the committee that Pakistan would appoint its ad hoc judge for the upcoming hearing and that he would himself lead Pakistan’s team at the ICJ.

The next meeting of the Parliamentary Committee on National Security will be held on June 15.

Meanwhile, PM’s Adviser on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz will also brief the committee on US-Arab-Islamic summit recently held in Riyadh. Activities of the banned outfits on social media will also be part of the meeting’s agenda.

The meeting is being convened on the demand of opposition parties that are dissatisfied with government’s preparations regarding Jadhav’s case and Pakistan’s ‘passive’ diplomacy in the recently held summit in Riyadh where Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was not allowed to speak.

The opposition has sought a detailed briefing on these issues from the government’s side.

Contrary to the reports that the Foreign Office briefed the NA panel on Tuesday, sources said the briefing was given only by the AGP and FO officials led by Aziz would brief the panel on June 15.

Speaking to the media after the briefing, PTI Vice Chairman Shah Mehmood Qureshi regretted that Pakistan’s unprepared disposition at the ICJ had resulted in embarrassment for the country.

“The government has adopted a questionably secretive, covert and passive approach towards key foreign policy issues concerning India and other important regional players. We hope they would go to ICJ fully prepared and would come clean in the next meeting to address our concerns,” Qureshi expected of the government.

Source: The Express Tribune