My Mother — Page 90
90 colleagues in the cabinet, gave me their full support and confi- dence, but a couple of younger members of the Parliamentary party began to intrigue against me. By the summer of 1954, I began to feel that my continuation in office as Minister of Foreign Affairs was beginning to be detrimental to the interests of Pakistan, and I made up my mind to resign. The Prime Minister was reluctant to release me, but it was discovered that my name had been proposed by another State for election to the International Court of Justice to fill a casual vacancy which had arisen in consequence of the death in November 1953 of Sir B. N. Rau, the Indian judge on the Court. The Prime Minister agreed to let me contest the vacancy, possibly consoling himself with the reflection that as the Indian Candidate’s name had been proposed for the vacancy months ahead of mine and the general trend in the United Nations was that in case of the death of a judge the resulting vacancy should be filled by the election of a national of the country of the deceased, my chance of being elected was slim. Be that as it may, I was elected and became a Member of the Court on the day of my elec- tion, October 7, 1954. My term of office was the remainder of the term of Sir B. N. Rau, which was to end on February 5, 1961. I was elected Vice-President of the Court in the spring of 1958. Judge Helge Klaestad (Norway) was elected President. He was the very soul of integrity, but was super-sensitive. Finding me sympath etic, he gave me his full confidence and insisted upon my performing some of the functions that under the Rules of the Court pertained to the President. Towards the end of our term as President and Vice-President, he fell into the habit of referring to me as his successor in the office of President. I reminded him that my term as Judge was due to expire in the first week of February,