WORLD COURT: Acid Test

The dispute over Goa, that pimple of Portuguese sovereignty on India’s west coast, has been described by Jawaharlal Nehru as the “acid test” by which India judges other nations: any friend of India’s must agree that Portugal should get out. Last week Goa became something of an acid test for India too.

Portugal filed a claim before the World Court in The Hague 21 months ago, protesting that Portuguese were being denied the right to pass across Indian territory to get to two tiny Portuguese enclaves, Dadra and Nagar Aveli. Last week a case reached court—and though the Portuguese right to be in Goa was not at stake, the subject kept coming up. India had hired a potent battery of British lawyers, including former Socialist Attorney General Sir Frank Soskice, to argue that travel inside its own borders is an internal affair of India and that the court has no jurisdiction. The Indians also complained bitterly that the Portuguese had “sneaked” the case before the World Court within a week of being admitted, with India’s help, to the U.N., and within two days of accepting the court’s jurisdiction. For whatever consolation it might be to those two much-criticized colonial powers, Britain and France, they found themselves being praised by India for their magnanimity and good sense in getting out of India, an example Portugal was urged to follow. “It has been suggested, and is still being suggested,” India’s Attorney General told the World Court judges, “that militarily the Portuguese colonies in India could become part of India in less than two days.” Of course, he added quickly, “we do not wish to seek a solution that way.”