Veto should go

Pakistan's stance on abolishing the veto power is rational and well-ordained. It is meant to make the United Nations a responsible entity, and not one that works on the whims and wishes of the powerful. To this day, the world body has failed to protect the interests of smaller states, and been miserable in managing peace and security issues. That is because of the august club of five permanent members, the P5, have an apartheid say in world affairs, and the entire edifice of values and principles crumbles at their discretion.

Pakistan's permanent envoy at the UN Security Council, Asim Iftikhar Ahmad, was spot on as he described the veto system as "anachronistic today", and one that goes on to paralyse the process of decision-making owing to realpolitik considerations. Post-WWII, the founding fathers of the world body dreamt of a world order where "the wolf shall dwell with the lamb", but in reality it turned out to be a nightmare with warfare, genocide and poverty making a mockery of values of civilisational ethics.

P5 sits at the pinnacle with disgust and superiority complex. Putting them at the helm was apparently meant to address the vacuum in power politics, a decision that has cost serenity and sensibility dear. Thus, the ongoing debate that more veto-wielding members must be ushered in on the premise of their military and economic muscles would lead to more aggrandisement of the world body at the altar of weak and subjugated states.

Islamabad's call for either abolishing the veto power or 'severely restricting' its usage is logical and must be supported. Likewise, any expansion of permanent membership will "only aggravate the problem", as the mosaic of deliberations will span on the grounds of exigent considerations, delaying succour and remedial measures.

The UN is in need of revisiting its manifesto. Creating "more centres of privilege" will surely be a negation of "one-country, one-vote", and lead to more resentment. It is recent history that superpowers went for aggression in Mideast and Afghanistan, and tolerated a genocide in Gaza, merely on the blackmailing of their veto mandate. That biased order must come to an end.