Diplomats have termed India’s abstention on a UN General Assembly’s landmark resolution calling on the Interna-tional Court of Justice (ICJ) to give an opinion on the legal consequences of Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestinian territories reflected India’s drive to pursue Israeli model of demographic engineering in occupied Jammu and Kashmir.
The 193-member Assembly on Friday voted 87 in favour to 26 against with 53 abstentions on the resolution, co-sponsored by Pakistan, which saw Western nations divided but it garnered unanimous support of the Islamic world. Russia and China voted in favour of the resolution.
Israel, the US and 24 other members – including the United Kingdom and Germany – voted against the resolution, while India and France were among the 53 nations that abstained.
“India’s abstention derives from its own policies of occupation in Jammu and Kashmir, usurpation of Kashmiri lands, demographic change and denial of the right to self-determination — the precise issues of Israeli occupation on which the General Assembly has sought an advisory opinion from the ICJ.” Pakistan’s UN Ambassador Munir Akram said in an interview with APP correspondent.
“Israeli culpability in Palestine will also confirm India’s culpability in IIOJK,” the Pakistani envoy added. The resolution — titled ‘Israeli practices affecting the human rights of the Palestinian people in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem’ — calls on the ICJ to determine the “legal consequences arising from the ongoing violation by Israel of the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination” as well as of its measures “aimed at altering the demographic composition, character and status” of the holy city of Jerusalem.
It also calls on the UN Secretary-General to present a report on the implementation of the resolution in the upcoming session of the UN General Assembly in September 2023. Ambassador Riyad Mansour, Palestine’s permanent observer to the United Nations, hailed the countries that were “undeterred by threats and pressure” and voted in favour of the resolution.—KMS
