The League of Nations was created on the debris of victims of first world war in the hope to save the humanity in future from the type of immense damage which the world had to experience in the first world war. That turned out to be a forlorn hope when the second world war erupted in 1940s which dashed it to the ground. That war would have prolonged but for the use of two atomic bombs by the US on Japan . The UN was created by the super powers of that time in 1945 again in the hope to prevent breakout of third world war. Granted that the UN has done some good work since its inception by dousing the fire in conflicts between many African countries by sending its peace missions to prevent it snowballing. Those wars had the potentiality to ignite yet another world war. By and large, the role of present day super powers like the US and , Russia, in particular ,in the UN has been disappointing to say the least. The UN has become a lame duck before the super powers and it can’t call them to the carpet in case they commit high-handedness and flout international laws and conventions. Unless UN has its own force for implementing its conventions the super powers will always get away with its high-handed actions. Among the present super powers only China has been behaving with a lot of patience , restraint , political acumen and farsightedness otherwise the world would have plunged into yet another world war long ago. It is about time reforms were carried out giving some clout to its general secretary to put his foot down in case some country became too big for its boots otherwise the fate of the UN won’t be much different from that of the League of Nations.
POST SCRIPT:
What a pity that though sufficient time has lapsed since we are practising parliamentary system in this country we haven’t yet learnt basic lessons how to run it. The use of fisticuffs among the members of our assemblies on the floor of the House off and on and incidents of even tearing one another’s shirts is the order of the day. Such incidents sometimes makes many think that Ayub Khan was perhaps not far wrong when,while imposing martial law in the country and sending assembly members packing had said that parliamentary democracy didn’t suit the genius of our people. He had to take this extreme step when skull of the deputy speaker of the then East Pakistan assembly was fractured in one of such a scuffles among the assembly members on the floor of the House.
It is very much essential that best of the best political workers should be given tickets to contest assembly elections as they have to carry out onerous task of legislation for the people who send them to assemblies. Their way of talking should reflect wisdom logic and morality . They should be persons of impeccable financial integrity. They should be very careful in the choice of words even if they want to castigate their political foes on the floor of the House. It won’t be out of place to quote the following anecdotes in this connection to bring this point home to the readers. The banks of River Thames which flows near the building of the House of Commons in London touch it. Disraeli was the prime minister of England and Gladstone opposition leader in the House of Commons. One day when a newsman asked Disraeli how would he define misfortune and calamity he replied If Gladstone fell into Thames that would be a misfortune but if some one dragged him out again that would be a calamity
Winston Churchill was prime minister. In a debate in the House of Commons One Lady Astor addressing the speaker said Mr. Speaker if Churchill were my husband I would put poison in his coffee cup to which Churchill retorted Mr. Speaker if I were her husband I would drink it. Such was the high quality and status of debate between the members of House of Commons which is reputed to be a mother of parliamentary democracy. If any MP wanted to vent his spleen on his foes he was were very careful in selecting proper words.
Lately Iran has taken a correct step by evolving a strict system of scrutiny of nomination papers of the persons by the returning officers so that best of the best could be elected.
Unfortunately in this part of the world it has always been the filthy rich who get political party tickets to contest polls and that is the precise reason why many undeserving persons manage to enter the assembly building. Electoral reforms need to be carried out if we are to ensure that only men of caliber and of impeccable financial integrity could become assembly members. Leaving their selection to the whims and caprices of all and sundry in the country hasn’t given the nation good results. Small wonder the quality of debate in our assemblies is below average There may be many deserving political workers in a political party but if he is not a blue eyed boy of the party head or has not deposited heavy amount in the party fund he is never considered for giving him party ticket to contest polls.
