India says ruling in Marshall Islands case vindicates stand

NEW DELHI: India today said the decision by UN's highest court to throw out a bid by Marshall Islands to sue it for failing to halt the nuclear arms race vindicates its "principled approach" to nuclear disarmament.

The International Court of Justice ( ICJ) yesterday threw out landmark cases brought by the tiny Marshall Islands against India, Pakistan and Britain for allegedly failing to halt the nuclear arms race.

"The court upholds the objection to jurisdiction" raised by each of the countries, presiding judge Ronny Abraham had said in separate rulings.

External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Vikas Swarup said, "We believe the judgement vindicates our responsible and principled approach to nuclear disarmament."

"By appearing at the ICJ and engaging on the Application brought forward by the Marshall Islands, India has underlined its respect for international law and for the sentiment in the international community for taking forward nuclear disarmament," he said.

However, Swarup stated that this is not an issue to be adjudicated legally between two states and is a subject for inter-governmental negotiations involving all essential parties.

"As a responsible nuclear weapon state, we remain strongly committed to negotiations on global, verifiable and non- discriminatory nuclear disarmament at the CD (Conference on Disarmament) in Geneva," he said.