DNA Edit: Sweet Victory

Barely two months after the successful de-escalation of the Doklam crisis, the Indian diplomatic corps can now proudly add another achievement to its redoubtable list of strategic statecraft victories. This time, concerted effort by the Ministry of External Affairs, led ably by Sushma Swaraj, alongside National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar and India’s representative to the United Nations (UN) Syed Akbaruddin has helped Justice Dalveer Bhandari get re-elected to the International Court of Justice (ICJ). Justice Bhandari’s re-election has been a hard-earned triumph secured by cornering the UK mission and leaving it with no other option. To be fair, UK foreign ministry officials put up a tough fight to secure a re-election of their representative, Justice Christopher Greenwood.

However, it was the tenacious lobbying by Indian diplomats that won the day, and forced British diplomats to announce Justice Greenwood would be conceding, thereby leaving the path clear for Justice Bhandari. Earlier this year, once the case of Navy officer Kulbhushan Jadhav had been taken up by the ICJ, it became a matter of grave political consequence that Justice Bhandari continue to occupy a post there. For him to do so, it was necessary for Justice Bhandari to secure a majority in both the UN General Assembly and UN Security Council. It was in late June that India officially kick-started the process of re-election. No less than Prime Minister Narendra Modi solicited support for Justice’s candidature. Swaraj stayed in New York last September for seven days to ensure as many committed votes as possible. Additionally, the Justice’s candidature found mention in all diplomatic initiatives, irrespective of whether they were being spearheaded by diplomats or by the country’s leaders.