While one hopes that the ruling and orders given by the International Court of Justice in relation to the Israel-Hamas war will provide at least some humanitarian benefits, I believe such benefits will be few and slow in coming.
Human nature being as it is, it may not be too long before the ICJ will be petitioned by conflicting religious interests in India, claiming acts of genocide against them. The Middle East news channel al Jazeera had an item on Saturday regarding a Muslim mosque which was destroyed by rioting Hindus in 1992. A Hindu temple has been built on the site and dedicated to the Hindu God Ram.
The Indian Supreme Court gave the authority for the temple to be built over the raised mosque. Some of the panel on the news item said it was a political act to establish Hinduism as the dominant religion and uphold the rights of Hindus as the indigenous people, while the Muslims had been invaders.
While the history of Hindu and Muslim Indians are interwoven over the centuries, it is true that there have been bloody clashes between the factions in recent times.
At a time of general world unrest, might India be even more likely to descend into civil and social warfare?
