The United Nations' highest court has rejected the cases brought by Marshall Islands against India, Pakistan and Britain for allegedly failing to halt the nuclear arms race. The 16-judge bench at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague ruled there was no evidence that the island nation had a prior dispute with any of the three countries or sought bilateral negotiations on the issue. The tiny Pacific island nation was ground zero for a string of devastating nuclear tests on its pristine atolls between 1946 and 1958, carried out by the United States as the Cold War arms race gathered momentum.<br/><br/>Initially in 2014, Marshall Islands had accused nine countries of failing to comply with the 1968 nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, which seeks to inhibit the spread of atomic bombs.The Marshall Islands had argued that by not stopping the nuclear arms race Britain, India and Pakistan had breached obligations under the treaty – even if New Delhi and Islamabad have not signed the pact. The treaty commits all nuclear weapon states to pursue negotiations in good faith on effective measures relating to cessation of the nuclear arms race at an early date and to nuclear disarmament.