KARACHI, Oct 24: Terming the United Nations a symbol of peace, justice and human rights, speakers at a seminar urged the body to take remedial measures to turn the tide of unilateralism.
They stated that the UN was under the influence of the US, which by had been waging a multi-strategy war against the countries disagreeing with its designs. They urged the UN that it should come up to expectations of its member countries and meet its founding objectives, otherwise oppressed nations, along with the Muslim Ummah would be compelled to go for new options.
The seminar on “The United Nations and the Muslim World” was organized by Motamar Al-Alam Al Islami on Friday at its Gulshan-i- Iqbal Complex to observe the United Nations Day.
Among others, Justice Saeeduzzaman Siddiqui, former ambassador Shahid Amin, Mir Nawaz Khan Marwat, former federal minister Dr Basharat Jazbi, Qutubuddin Aziz and Abdullah Dadabhoy, also spoke on the occasion.
In his presidential speech, former federal minister and central leader of PML-N, Raja Mohammad Zafarul Haq, who is also the secretary- general of Motamar, said that frequent use of veto power, mostly by one or two countries in their self-interest, had ridiculed the status of the world body.
Citing some events from the past, he said that the US had become a threat to the sovereignty of the UN. It wanted UN to work as per its aspirations and whims and now it seemed that the US did not find it obligatory to follow the resolutions or observations of the body of over 190 countries, he added, saying in the name of “safeguarding its security,” the US could turn aggressive against any country.
However, he mentioned that recent development in Iraq and Afghanistan were causing change in world opinion and even the US citizens had started questioning why other people hate them. America, by defying the UN was setting a bad example, while some other countries, including Israel, were also following its step, he added.
Talking about war on Iraq, he said that it was all undue and aimed only to usurp the resources of the Muslim countries. As the US was finding its forces in trouble in Iraq, so it was trying to deploy the forces from other countries by using the UN, he said.
Referring to the other disputes and unrest in the Muslim Ummah, he said that self respect of the people had been undermined largely due to American attitude, adding that was high time that the Organization of Islamic Conference be made an effective body.
Justice Siddiqui, tracing the history of the UN, tragedies faced by the Muslim Ummah and the US actions in Afghanistan and Iraq, said that the Muslim countries should take an objective look at the prevailing political situation in the world and start working for establishment of regional alliances to evolve a system of collective defence to protect their security and economic interests against outside interference.
Former Ambassador Shahid Amin, however, mentioned that the UN had delivered a lot through its various non-political bodies since its inception. The UN, despite its flaws, was a hope for mankind and it should work to counter the unilateralism by any country.
He said that UN should work for implementation of its policies in the case of Iraq as well, as the unilateral actions by the US had surely caused despondency and anger among the Muslims.
