The effectiveness of the United Nations, now 64, has always been of interest to me. As a student of Political Science in my college days, I was able to appreciate its relevance then. I have no change in my thinking even now, although there are countries which flout all its tenets despite being its members, and despite having them vowed to abide by its Charter.

There is also a divergence of perceptions and interests among its 192 member states. Some are rich, some have visions of strategic glory, some need economic development, and most have energy and pollution issues.

There is also the fact that some of the smaller states can be terrible irritants to bigger countries, irrespective of whether these bigger countries are in their neighbourhood or far away.

Pakistan is one such example.

It has been conducting a proxy war against India for nearly 20 years. It has been sending spies into India who come here and then get lost apparently to assume Indian identity and then harm India from within. Pakistan supplies training, arms and weapons to terrorists, and its notorious ISI even prints Indian currency to finance the terror and sabotage outfit it has set up against India.

Of course, Pakistan just lies and denies every thing, be it infiltration, fake currency printing, or sabotage, the 2008 26/11 carnage in Mumbai by 10 Pakistani terrorists included. Only when there is hard evidence, Pakistan is forced to acknowledge its participation, and it is still with ‘ifs’ and ‘buts’.

In its inexplicable zeal to harm India, Pakistan has bred terrorism.

Unfortunately for Islamabad, its very own terrorists have not only attacked India but as far away as Europe, Britain and the United States, and also, Pakistan itself. So much so that the Pakistani Prime Minister recently called these terrorists as “beasts.”

Hopefully, the entire Pakistani establishment will realize one day that these ‘beasts’ are no good either for Pakistan or the world, and that the political leadership and the military authorities there have to join the world to eradicate these evil beasts.

The basic goal of the United Nations is world peace, which is good individually for every country. If you need economic growth, you need peace within your borders and in your neighbourhood as a fundamental requirement.

We need peace, Pakistan needs peace, the world needs peace. If all the countries sincerely make an effort to work within the UN Charter, the world would be a comfortable place to live with peace and growth for everyone assured.