The ICJ case of UNISCA 2022 is now published!
Indian Diplomatic and Consular Staff in Islamabad (India v. Pakistan)
On August 28 2021, Indian authorities arrested more than a 100 opposition leaders and activists in the Jammu and Kashmir region. A lockdown was put in place in Jammu and Kashmir, which disabled inhabitants from communicating outside of the region. As a result, nationwide demonstrations emerge in Pakistan. During the course of these demonstrations, an outside area of the Commission of India (Embassy of India) situated in Islamabad was overrun by a group of armed persons with rifles and handguns. This group has been identified to be part of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LT), which is a Pakistani militant Islamist organisation.
LT is believed to have infiltrated a crowd of Pakistani protestors in order to gain access to the Indian embassy in Islamabad. Entrances to the embassy building were heavily guarded, which led LT to abduct a group of non-protestors, including members of the diplomatic staff, standing on the outside premises of the complex. The hostages were forced to go into a large white van and subsequently brought to one of LT’s headquarters on the northern outskirts of Islamabad.
India accuses Pakistan of involvement with the hostage situation, which Pakistan denies. India argues that Pakistan has neglected its tasks as a host country of diplomatic and consular staff, whilst Pakistan claims it is too dangerous to negotiate with LT at the moment. Meanwhile, India deploys military personnel to India and plans an airstrike on one of LT’s headquarters. Lawyers will discuss these disputes between India and Pakistan before the Court as well as a number of specific legal concepts.
Further details to be disclosed in the Study Guide.
India argues that:
Pakistan argues that:
LT is believed to have infiltrated a crowd of Pakistani protestors in order to gain access to the Indian embassy in Islamabad. Entrances to the embassy building were heavily guarded, which led LT to abduct a group of non-protestors, including members of the diplomatic staff, standing on the outside premises of the complex. The hostages were forced to go into a large white van and subsequently brought to one of LT’s headquarters on the northern outskirts of Islamabad.
India accuses Pakistan of involvement with the hostage situation, which Pakistan denies. India argues that Pakistan has neglected its tasks as a host country of diplomatic and consular staff, whilst Pakistan claims it is too dangerous to negotiate with LT at the moment. Meanwhile, India deploys military personnel to India and plans an airstrike on one of LT’s headquarters. Lawyers will discuss these disputes between India and Pakistan before the Court as well as a number of specific legal concepts.
Further details to be disclosed in the Study Guide.
India argues that:
- Pakistan supported LT in the hostage taking of Indian diplomatic and consular staff due to their ties with the organisation in the 1990s;
- Pakistan violated article 11 of the International Law Commission’s report on Responsibility of States for Internationally Wrongful Acts;
- Pakistan has breached Articles 20 and 22 of the Vienna Convention of Diplomatic Relations of 1961;
- Pakistan’s failure to act forced India to interfere in the situation to secure their own diplomats.
Pakistan argues that:
- Pakistan has no involvement in LT’s abduction and hostage taking of the Pakistani civilians and Indian members of diplomatic staff;
- Attempting to negotiate with members of LT or attacking their premises poses a disproportionate risk to the safety of Pakistani civilians;
- The deployment of military personnel without Pakistani permission constitutes a violation of Pakistan’s right to territorial sovereignty according to Article 2(4) of the UN Charter.