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Marshall Islands to UN court: Pakistan violating nuclear 'obligations'

Tuesday, 08 March 2016 3:30 PM [ Last Update: Tuesday, 08 March 2016 6:02 PM ]

Pakistani military personnel stand beside long-range ballistic Shaheen II missiles during the Pakistan Day military parade in Islamabad on March 23, 2015. (AFP photo)

The Marshall Islands told the International Court of Justice Tuesday that Pakistan is violating its "obligations" to the international community by failing to reduce its nuclear arsenal.

Nicholas Grief, one of the Marshall Islands lawyers told judges at the UN’s highest court that Islamabad “is in breach of its obligations owed to the international community as a whole” when it comes to reducing its nuclear stockpile.

Tony de Brum, a Marshallese government minister said Pakistan and its nuclear-armed rival India "continue to engage in a quantitative build-up and a qualitative improvement" of their atomic stockpiles.

The minister has warned that even a "limited nuclear war" involving Islamabad and New Delhi would "threaten the existence" of the Marshall Islands nation.

Majuro this week launched three unusual cases against Britain, India and Pakistan in a bid to put a new spotlight on the global nuclear threat.

The Marshall Islands is attempting to convince judges at the court to hear the case. The judges at the UN’s highest court are holding hearings to decide whether it is competent to hear the lawsuits brought against India and Pakistan.

Judges arrive at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague, the Netherlands, December 16, 2015. (AFP photo)

Pakistan and its arch-rival India demonstrated their nuclear weapons capability in 1998.

Pakistan has been engaged in an arms race with India since their partition 69 years ago. The two countries routinely carry out nuclear-capable ballistic missile tests.

The Marshall Islands initially sought to bring a case against the Israeli regime and eight countries it said possessed nuclear arms.

Israel, which is widely believed to possess between 200 to 400 nuclear warheads, is a non-signatory to the Non-Proliferation Treaty and continues to defy international calls to join the treaty.

The International Court of Justice has only admitted three cases against Britain, India and Pakistan, because they have accepted the compulsory jurisdiction of the UN court.

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