Azernews.Az

By Trend

Recently, it became known that the International Criminal Court will send more than 40 investigators to Ukraine to investigate the facts of what is happening against the backdrop of the conflict with Russia. However, similar missions were not sent to Azerbaijan during the Second Karabakh War, despite repeated appeals from official Baku to international organizations.

This again shows the double standard that the international community displayed towards Azerbaijan’s struggle to liberate its territories, which remained under Armenian occupation for almost 30 years. The international community kept silent about the atrocities happening on these lands.

Commenting on this to Trend, Director of the Institute of Peace and Diplomatic Studies, Pakistani political analyst Muhammad Asif Noor said that this is a fundamental question at the moment.

“Ukraine-Russia crisis has exposed the double-faced approach of the international community. There has been a loud hue and cry over the reasons for injustice and biased approach towards specific conflicts. For instance, there are bleeding wounds all over the world, however, the international community has continued to give deaf ears to these situations. There has not been any International Criminal Court Chief prosecutor sent to other regions to investigate the war crimes against humanity. However, we are not against any step toward saving humanity. It is essential to investigate in Ukraine if there are any,” the analyst said.

However, he noted that the international community's selective views and eagerness are agonizing and reflect the biased approach.

“The Armenian war crimes have remained unnoticed, creating the worst humanitarian crisis. Despite many appeals from Azerbaijan’s official channels, the ICC has not responded regarding the investigation or sending fact-finding missions in the region. This has not been the first time that ICC and other such organizations have not answered the calls from genuine disputes and humanitarian crises. If humanity is in crisis anywhere in the world, it should be the duty of these critical organizations to investigate the cause of the conflicts and if there are war crimes. Selectively acting and approaching the crisis will not help humanity; instead, this will further divide the already polarised world,” he added.

Muhammad Asif Noor added that Amnesty International identified the illegal use of the banned ammunitions by the Armenian forces on the innocent Azerbaijani population.

“Alongside the line of contact, peaceful Azerbaijani cities such as Ganja and Barda have suffered significant wrath from the Armenian forces, resulting in the killing of tens of people and the wounding of dozens. It is also reported that dangerous mines have been installed in the region, creating further chaos during the Second Karabakh War. We need to remember and recall that nearly hundreds of thousands of Azerbaijanis have been displaced from their homes since the conflict began. There has been a forcible occupation and ethnic cleansing. There are war crimes by the Armenian forces that need not be unnoticed. These should be highlighted. These should be brought forth at all the international forums to reflect an accurate picture of Armenia,” the analyst said.

The world must realize that justice delayed is justice denied, he said.

“If injustice happened during the war, the world would be responsible for the tensions, and another crisis in the future as the resentment would continue. Only innocent people will suffer, and they are suffering due to these poor responses from the international community and not just in Karabakh but also across the world,” he concluded.

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