ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Friday welcomed the International Court of Justice’s (ICJ) provisional measures of acknowledging that it had jurisdiction to entertain the case against Israel and that South Africa’s claims of genocide were “plausible”.
“The implementation of these provisional measures requires an immediate and unconditional ceasefire to bring about an end to the suffering faced by the people of Gaza,” Foreign Office (FO) spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said in a statement.
The ICJ has ordered Israel to urgently undertake a series of measures in relation to Palestinians in Gaza to prevent the commission of acts prohibited by the Genocide Convention.
The court has instructed Israel to prevent killing members of the group; causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; and imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group.
The court has also ordered Israel to take immediate and effective measures to enable the provision of urgently needed basic services and humanitarian assistance to address the adverse conditions of life faced by Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
Calling for full and effective implementation of the ICJ’s decision, the FO stressed the need for basic human rights, dignity and identity of the Palestinian people as a distinct group to be upheld and protected, as stipulated by the UN Charter, relevant UN resolutions, and international law.
Terming the “timely” ICJ ruling as a significant milestone in the pursuit of justice for the Palestinian people and international accountability of Israel, the FO lamented the Israeli onslaught on the beleaguered territory stressing that Tel Aviv’s forces engaged in military aggression and criminal actions against the Palestinians.
Today’s verdict comes as more than 26,000 Palestinians have been killed due to an ongoing Israeli offensive in the Gaza Strip which has witnessed indiscriminate bombing coupled with a ground offensive since October 7.
Furthermore, the Palestinian territory is currently under Israeli siege which has led to acute food and water scarcity along with a severe shortage of medicines and basic utilities.
The United Nations (UN), along with various other human rights organisations have been calling for an immediate ceasefire to address the humanitarian crisis being unfolded in the territory whose millions of residents have been displaced due to Israel’s war.
Islamabad, which has sent multiple aid consignments to the besieged territory, has once again reaffirmed its unwavering support to the Palestinian people in their just and legitimate struggle for the realisation of their inalienable right to self-determination. –Agencies
