Speaking up for the vulnerable

The UN was established to resolve disputes among nations to ensure world peace. Unfortunately, it has failed badly to achieve what it was formed for. At the time of partition of the subcontinent, India, in connivance with the ruler Maharaja Hari Singh, annexed Kashmir against the will of the people. The people of Kashmir revolted, and the issue led to an armed conflict between the two newly formed countries. Pakistan lent support to the local Kashmiri population to protect its own borders and to block the illegal annexation of Kashmir by India. Facing a severe revolt by the local population and war with Pakistan, India took the matter to the UN, where a resolution was passed that the fate of Kashmir will be decided by a plebiscite. The war ended with this resolution as Kashmiris and Pakistan expected the UN to ensure that India would act on the resolution. Unfortunately, this never happened. There have been multiple wars between Pakistan and India on this issue, but the UN has failed to force India to hold the plebiscite.

India is acting as the worst oppressor in the Kashmir valley marginalising the locals and inflicting the worst atrocities on them. India has become so emboldened by the world’s silence that it recently attacked UN vehicles on the Pakistan side of Kashmir. All the UN could do was to plea that India and Pakistan settle the issue bilaterally in a peaceful manner. Similarly, the UN has completely and utterly failed to reign Israeli occupation and aggression against the Palestinian people. It seems the UN is more of a forum to legitimise and support the actions of superpowers, especially the US when they run havoc on other nations under one pretext or the other. Be it the phony claim of weapons of mass destruction, or the trumpeted Libyan threat, the UN is quick to fall in line to legitimise the US aggression, but it fails badly in protecting small nations and territories. I wonder what good is this forum if it cannot solve the long–standing Kashmir and the Palestinian issues?

Raja Shafaatullah

Islamabad