Pakistan, June 23 -- The decision of the pre-trial chamber of the International Criminal Court to not grant the prosecutor permission to probe war crimes committed by all sides in Afghanistan has put the last nail in the coffin in the establishment of an independent international judicial system. The organization has thus admitted inability to initiate an investigation in the face of uncooperative parties (US, Afghanistan and Taliban) considering it a mere waste of time and resources.

Article 15 of the ICC statute provides that a prosecutor may initiate prosecution without a state party or Security Council referral. To do so, it requires authorisation by the pre-trial chamber by establishing the fact that the case fit for hearing in term...