Dear editor,
I was the one to appreciate The Gambia for its bold initiative of filing a petition in ICJ through its Minister of Justice, Mr Abubaccar Tambadou, who presented a very comprehensive and well-investigated report on the genocide of Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar. I was 100 per cent sure of the fact that The Gambia will win this case and the court will provide justice to Rohingya Muslims victims and God heard their prayers as the verdict is out already against the Ms Aung Sang Suu Kyi and her government, wherein, the ICJ has asked the authorities to put an end to the ongoing brutalities and genocide.
The salient features of the verdict are:
1. The ICJ has ordered Myanmar to prevent genocidal violence against its Rohingya Muslim minority and preserve any evidence of past crimes.
2. In a momentous decision, the ICJ also imposed emergency “provisional measures” on the country by instructing the government of Aung San Suu Kyi to respect the requirements of the 1948 Genocide Convention, declaring that there was prima facie evidence of breaches of the convention.
3. The ruling also amounted to outright rejection of the Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi’s defence of her country against accusations of systematic human rights abuses and war crimes.
Now that the ruling has been given, Myanmar’s response will be assessed. It is clear that the voices of poor Rohingya Muslims have been heard by God that even the judge nominated by Myanmar for the hearing voted against the country.
Pertaining to the success that The Gambia achieved for its sincere efforts in favour of Rohingya Muslims, I feel faceless before Kashmir brothers and sisters as Pakistan has failed to even file a case or petition before ICJ and ICC with substantive evidence against Indian generals and Prime Minister Modi. We should have dragged Modi and his associates for trial in the said two international courts on the legal course adopted by Gambia. The brutalities and genocide in Myanmar are similar to that of Indian administered Kashmir.
The clueless and baseless apprehensions of failure on Gambian petition expressed in various meetings have been frustrated after the announcement of the verdict by ICJ in favour of The Gambia as justice has been served to Muslim victims of Myanmar.
Senator Abdul Rehman Malik
Former Minister for the Interior
Karachi, Pakistan
