In a major embarrassment to Pakistan, its lawyer in the International Court of Justice, Khawar Qureshi, who represented Pakistan in the Kulbhushan Jadhav case, has pointed out that it would be ‘extremely difficult’ for Pakistan to prove the charge of genocide in Kashmir for want of evidence. As Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan plans to take raise the Kashmir dispute in the International Court of Justice, this comes as a major blow to Imran Khan for whom the ICJ was the last resort after failing to get the support of the International community.
While India continues to maintain that the abrogation of Article 370 is an internal matter, Pakistan has gone from door to door asking for International mediation in Kashmir, to little avail. USA, France, Russia Sri Lanka, Maldives and even the United Arab Emirates have respected India’s stance on Kashmir. While Prime Minister Modi has been honoured with the top civilian honours by Bahrain and UAE, Imran Khan has resorted to war-mongering in the New York Times. At a time when the options were running out for Pakistan, ICJ was seen as the only saving grace for the jingoists in Pakistan. The statement by Khawar Qureshi has come as a body blow to the country as Pakistan government has absolutely no evidence of the supposed ‘aggression’ by India in Kashmir.
Khawar Qureshi who in the past has faced severe humiliation in the ICJ during the Kulbhushan Jadhav hearing has gone a step further this time and during an interview in a local news channel admitted that for the world, Jammu and Kashmir is an inalienable part of India and hence, Pakistan will find very little international support on the issue. Perhaps, Qureshi is now more aware of the nuances and does not want to face further humiliation in the ICJ. With this eye-opener, Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi’s claim that the decision to take the Kashmir matter to the ICJ was “taken after considering all legal aspects” appears all the more ridiculous.One wonders what legal aspects did Pakistan consider before deciding to move ICJ as its lawyer in the ICJ has termed it difficult for Pakistan to get a favourable result in the ICJ due to lack of evidence.
As Pakistan Prime Minister continues to contradict himself every day and changes his statements by the hour it is clear that Imran Khan’s arguments are hollow and they are best only at making noise. When it comes to achieving diplomatic clout, Pak has earned none, while India put it to the test and emerged victoriously. Despite Qureshi’s concerns, if Pakistan still goes to ICJ, it stands to lose crores of rupees in legal fees especially at a time when the Pakistan government is forced to sell its buffaloes to help pay its dues and rest assured, India will highlight the atrocities committed by the revanchist state in PoK. It seems that Pakistan has dug its own grave.