By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Friday welcomed a decision by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) that ordered Israel to take steps to prevent the genocide of Palestinians and refused to dismiss the case brought by South Africa.
The UN’s top court ordered Israel to take steps to prevent genocide against Palestinians in Gaza but did not call for an end to its military campaign in the enclave, as South Africa had sought.
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) said Israel must limit the death and destruction caused by its war, stop, and punish incitement to genocide, and ensure access to humanitarian aid in Gaza.
By a majority of 15 to two, the court’s 17-judge panel ordered Israel to “take all measures within its power” to prevent acts that could amount to genocide in Gaza and to ensure its military does not commit such acts.
The ICJ’s rulings are binding and cannot be appealed, but it has no way of enforcing them. Still, the ruling was a setback for Israel, which had hoped the court would dismiss the case brought by South Africa, which accused it of violating the 1948 Genocide Convention, drafted after the Holocaust.
Pakistan welcomes the provisional measures ordered today by the International Court of Justice (ICJ), whereby the Court has concluded that prima facie, it has the jurisdiction to entertain the case against Israel and that South Africa’s claims of genocide are “plausible”, the foreign ministry said in a statement.
“Since 7 October 2023, Israel has engaged in military aggression and criminal actions against the Palestinian people. We consider the ICJ’s ruling timely and a significant milestone in the pursuit of justice for the Palestinian people and international accountability of Israel.”
The statement said the implementation of provisional measures requires an immediate and unconditional ceasefire to bring about an end to the suffering faced by the people of Gaza.
“Pakistan calls for the full and effective implementation of the ICJ’s decision so that basic human rights, dignity, and identity of Palestinian people as a distinct group are upheld and protected, as stipulated by the UN Charter, relevant UN resolutions, and international law.”
Pakistan, which does not recognize Israel as a state and supports the Palestinian cause, reaffirmed its “unwavering support to the Palestinian people in their just and legitimate struggle for the realization of their inalienable right to self-determination”.
“With a similar spirit, Pakistan has supported the application filed by South Africa before the ICJ against Israel under the 1948 Genocide Convention, in follow up to which the Court today announced the provisional measures.”
Israel launched a massive air and ground assault on Oct. 7. The offensive has devastated large parts of the Palestinian territory and displaced nearly 85 percent of its 2.3 million people. More than 26,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, have been killed.
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