Setting the Scene In the wake of the terrorist attack in Jammu and Kashmir in April 2025, the Government of India launched what it called a "Political Mission" on the global stage. At the centre of this initiative was the deployment of high-level all-party delegations to key capitals. This practice, referred to here as delegation diplomacy, involved briefing host governments on India’s account of the incident, the alleged role of The Resistance Front (TRF), and Pakistan’s purported complicity in cross-border terrorism. According to official briefings, the aim was not limited to strategic messaging. It was the projection of a legal narrative designed to present India as a state under siege and to frame Pakistan as a violator of international norms.
Sources of International Law
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No Longer Hard Law’s ‘Poor Relative’: The Growing Respect for Soft, Non-Binding Legal Instruments in the International Order
In the rich scholarship on and practice of hard and soft laws in the international order, hard law (specifically legally-binding treaties) is often perceived more favourably than soft, non-binding legal instruments, given the former’s precise wording and enforceable obligations compared with the latter’s aspirational remit and assumed transitional status towards hard law. Preference for hard law persists despite…
The Indus Waters Treaty ‘in abeyance’: Legal implications of India’s unilateral water releases into Pakistan-Administered Kashmir
On April 27, 2025, an unexpected rise in water levels of the Jhelum river in Pakistan-Administered Kashmir [‘PAK’] caused flooding in the region, with residents struggling to ‘protect lives and property’. A week later, India again released water from dams in Indian-Administered Kashmir [‘IAK’] without notifying Pakistan that water levels in the Chenab river would rise…
Trial in Absentia Under the Bangladesh International Crimes (Tribunals) Act 1973
Introduction Following mass student protests and a violent crackdown that killed at least 1,400 people, Sheikh Hasina’s 15-year authoritarian rule as Prime Minister of Bangladesh ended on 5 August 2024 (here, here, here). Amid unprecedented public outrage, she fled to India, and an interim Government led by Nobel Laureate Dr Muhammad Yunus…
Territorial Annexation and Custom: Are we at an Inflection Point in the System of International Law and Relations?
Recent geopolitical events have intensified debates on the norms governing territorial integrity under international law. The full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Israel’s continued military activities in the occupied Palestinian territories, and Morocco’s assertive claims over Western Sahara highlight growing concerns about the erosion of the prohibition against forcible annexation. A parallel issue is…
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