The Hague, February 19: On the second day of the hearing of the Kulbhushan Jadhav case in the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on Tuesday, the bench dismissed Pakistan’s plea. The bench rejected Pakistan’s pleas to adjourn the hearing to appoint a new ad-hoc judge as Pakistan’s ad-hoc judge is ill.

Earlier on Monday, Pakistan’s ad-hoc judge Tassaduq Hussain Jillani suffered a cardiac arrest ahead of the hearing. Representing Pakistan in the ICJ, Attorney General Anwar Mansoor Khan began his argument by saying, “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 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 judge be given ample amount of time to go through the briefings before going ahead with arguments.” Kulbhushan Jadhav Case at ICJ Live Streaming: India 'Sponsoring Terrorism' in Balochistan, Says Pakistan; Watch Video.

However, the bench quashed the appeal and asked Pakistan’s Attorney General to continue argument in the absence of the ad-hoc judge.

According to the case, Pakistan Military court has sentenced a retired Indian Navy officer to death on charges of ‘espionage and terrorism’ after a closed trial in April 2017. After the verdict by the Pakistani court, the sharp reaction was evoked in India.

Indian government moved ICJ in May the same year alleging ‘egregious violation’ of the provisions of the Vienna Convention by Pakistan. Since then India repeatedly denied New Delhi consular access to the 48-year-old ex-naval officer. Harish Salve Charges Pakistan of Violating Vienna Convention.

It is to be known that under Article 31 of the Statute of the Court, a state party to a case before the ICJ 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. Accordingly, the composition of judges in the ICJ will vary from one case to another and that the number of judges sitting in a given case will not necessarily be 15.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Feb 19, 2019 07:07 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).