The Reminiscences of Zafrulla Khan — Page 203
187 REMINISCENCES OF SIR MUHAMMAD ZAFRULLA KHAN consequently not only to welcome Non-alignment but to encourage it. One has the feeling that the United States is not happy in the juxtaposition of this kind of treaty relationship. That has made the authorities in Pakistan think a little more realistically over this matter and to see whether any adjustment has become necessary. I do not think Pakistan has, so far, shifted its position, but it has been studying the situation and considering whether a continuation of these treaty relationships is serving any very useful purpose. Question : After these years in the United Nations, you went to the World Court. Would you care to say something about those years at the World Court ? Khan : I was elected to the Court on 7th October, 1954, in a pending vacancy occasioned by the unfortunate death of Sir B. N. Rau after he had served less than two years on the Court. I became a member of the Court on that date and completed the remaining portion of Sir B. N. Rau's term on the Court, which ended on the 5th of February, 1961. I can, without hesitation, characterize that period as the happiest part of my public career. I must say, however, that I have always liked my work throughout my law practice when I was at the Bar, and later as Cabinet Minister in the Government of India, and then as Judge of the Supreme Court of India, and then as Foreign Minister of Pakistan. Being on the Court, which I then treated as retirement from political life, I was in a milieu that I liked best. Then, we were on the whole, a very happy company in the Court. My relations with all my colleagues were extremely friendly. I was rendered very happy by the fact that after I had been only three years on the Court, my colleagues elected me Vice President. It was a mark of their confidence in me, and also, I think, of their affection for me. The feeling that one stands in that relationship towards one's colleagues, is perhaps the most satisfactory part of any career. I found the work very agreeably and extremely interesting. One felt that, however slowly, one was building up the foundations of the structure of international law which is so essential in this age if the rule of law is to prevail in the world. Each individual case that came before the Court had several features of interest. I was always very deeply interested, both in the purely legal