UNSCR- 1267 Forsaking Humanitarianism? | PKKH.tv
PKKH Exclusive | By Sakina Kavi
With the increasing instances of terror, anarchy and conflicts, the United Nations, since its inception, vowed to be one of the governing organizations aiming to maintain global peace, and trying to resolve the global issues through the principles of diplomacy. One of the main organizations of the United Nations is the United Nations Security Council, better known as UNSC. The UNSC is the only organization that has the potential to play the most crucial role in maintaining international peace and order. The UNSC is supposed to resolve all kinds of issues relating to international peace and security, and has the authority to impose sanctions and the power to call to a military action if the conditions look difficult to resolve through dialogue only.
1267 may just sound like a random number at first glance to the incautious reader; however, 1267 was the resolution passed by the UNSC that completely changed the course of the international system. Resolution 1267 was one of the first decisions taken by the United States of America to fight the war against terror. However, the ironic part is that this resolution was passed even before the 9/11 incident happened, which not only took down the World Trade Centers in the USA, but also the peace and tranquility of the international system. Since this incident, not only one, but two major wars were waded by the United States of America against Muslim states.
The main reason for imposing the 1267 resolution was to fight against the threats of terror coming from the nation of Afghanistan, from the al-Qaeda and particularly the Taliban that was, at that time, ruling the state of Afghanistan.
The UNSC, in order to maintain stability, and take over the control of the land of Afghanistan from the Taliban, consolidated a list of sanctions against the Taliban and the people who they claimed were associated with the Al Qaeda organization. After maintaining the list, the United Nations, being an omnipotent international organization, asked every other nation that was a part of the UN, to assist them in carrying out the operation. Those who dared going against the proposition would likely face dire consequences.
The sanctions that the UNSC resolution 1267 implemented included restricting all UN member countries from sending financial aids to the land of Afghanistan, asking them to report on all the measures that they had taken to support the cause within 30 days.
Moreover, the 1267 resolution also included a list of wanted persons from the Taliban and al-Qaeda, whom the United Nations claimed to be most wanted, and ordered the rest of the states and nations to support the cause, and hand them over to the hands of the US army if they were caught. Osama Bin Laden became the person to top this list after the 9/11 incident.
The tragic incident of 9/11 undoubtedly shook the whole world, and the CIA, along with the US army now were ready to go search for the culprits of this incident! Moreover, through the 1267 resolution, the United States of America was legitimately able to put sanctions on a number of blacklisted people. These sanctions required states to restrict the listed people -mostly Taliban leaders- from entering their territories, and generally regard them as most wanted!
Over here, I do not wish to say that the US did anything wrong in searching for the culprits of the 9/11 incident, or that the Taliban were not guilty. However, I would like to pin point the damage that has been done to the human rights of most of the Afghans till date, just in the name of war on terror.
The United Nations claims to be one of the biggest supporters of human rights for the people all over the world. However, the aftermath of the 1267 resolution was certainly nowhere near the lines of humanitarianism. In the name of fighting against terror and disharmony, thousands of innocent Afghans were and are still being killed till date. The question such a resolution raises in my mind is, is terror the way to counter terror?
We all know, and would agree that the 9/11 incident was surely something that none of the Muslims states were proud of, as the eventual consequence of the incident was the stereotyping of the entire Muslim population of the world as terrorists. Of course, along with the hundreds that died in the 9/11 incident, even the human rights of millions of others were put at stake when the United Nations -under UNSC- came up with a resolution that was nothing but a spark that would initiate an inevitable number of terror and war incidents in the future.
Furthermore, while living in Pakistan, one incident that shook the entire Pakistani nation was that of the 2nd of May, 2011. This was when Osama bin Laden, the person topping the list of most wanted people made by the United Nations Security Council, was found in the territories of the Pakistani land, and killed by the members of the United States Naval Special Warfare Development Group and Central Intelligence Agency operatives in an undercover operation. Although this development marked a huge step of success for the US military; it put, at the same time, the integrity of the Pakistani government and its promises of cooperation with the US government in order to fight against terrorism at stake.
During General Musharrafs tenure, one of the most important developments that took place was a contract of US-Pakistan cooperation in fighting terrorism, and for this reason, Pakistan willingly provided the safe routes from the Pakistani lands into the Afghan territory. However, what happened during the US operation, in the name of fighting terrorism, was that most of the afghan civilians lost their basic human rights of survival and having a healthy place to live in. The war-ridden country of Afghanistan was indeed what none of the Afghans wanted. However, in spite of all the atrocities faced by the Afghans, and also the fact that Afghanistan is itself a part of the United Nations; nothing much was done to improve the conditions of the Afghans living in a state of war every day. Even those Afghans, who were not even on the list of individuals subject to sanctions composed under the 1267 resolution, lost all the basic rights of survival.
The 1267 resolution passed under the United Nations Security Council was said to be intending on freeing the world from terror activities, and taking strict measures against the big names involved in promoting terrorism. However, the fact remains that in spite of the list of aims and objectives of implementing the resolution, the end results were nothing along the lines of humanitarianism or fighting terrorism. The United Nations, therefore, needs to come up with clearer and more evident measures against terrorism of any kind, and place no boundaries against human rights as well. The large number of innocent people, who lost their lives in this battle of fighting for human rights, was left with no kinds of human rights for themselves. Who will be answerable for them? Sadly, it is a known fact that no other 1267 resolution would be passed to fight for the rights of these people; as if terror was actually the answer to terror!
Sakina Kavi is an aspiring journalist pursuing a degree in Mass Communication from the University of Karachi. Being a left-winger, Sakina believes in social equality and freedom of speech for all. Sakina tweets @Sakinakavi
Source
PKKH Exclusive | By Sakina Kavi
With the increasing instances of terror, anarchy and conflicts, the United Nations, since its inception, vowed to be one of the governing organizations aiming to maintain global peace, and trying to resolve the global issues through the principles of diplomacy. One of the main organizations of the United Nations is the United Nations Security Council, better known as UNSC. The UNSC is the only organization that has the potential to play the most crucial role in maintaining international peace and order. The UNSC is supposed to resolve all kinds of issues relating to international peace and security, and has the authority to impose sanctions and the power to call to a military action if the conditions look difficult to resolve through dialogue only.
1267 may just sound like a random number at first glance to the incautious reader; however, 1267 was the resolution passed by the UNSC that completely changed the course of the international system. Resolution 1267 was one of the first decisions taken by the United States of America to fight the war against terror. However, the ironic part is that this resolution was passed even before the 9/11 incident happened, which not only took down the World Trade Centers in the USA, but also the peace and tranquility of the international system. Since this incident, not only one, but two major wars were waded by the United States of America against Muslim states.
The main reason for imposing the 1267 resolution was to fight against the threats of terror coming from the nation of Afghanistan, from the al-Qaeda and particularly the Taliban that was, at that time, ruling the state of Afghanistan.
The UNSC, in order to maintain stability, and take over the control of the land of Afghanistan from the Taliban, consolidated a list of sanctions against the Taliban and the people who they claimed were associated with the Al Qaeda organization. After maintaining the list, the United Nations, being an omnipotent international organization, asked every other nation that was a part of the UN, to assist them in carrying out the operation. Those who dared going against the proposition would likely face dire consequences.
The sanctions that the UNSC resolution 1267 implemented included restricting all UN member countries from sending financial aids to the land of Afghanistan, asking them to report on all the measures that they had taken to support the cause within 30 days.
Moreover, the 1267 resolution also included a list of wanted persons from the Taliban and al-Qaeda, whom the United Nations claimed to be most wanted, and ordered the rest of the states and nations to support the cause, and hand them over to the hands of the US army if they were caught. Osama Bin Laden became the person to top this list after the 9/11 incident.
The tragic incident of 9/11 undoubtedly shook the whole world, and the CIA, along with the US army now were ready to go search for the culprits of this incident! Moreover, through the 1267 resolution, the United States of America was legitimately able to put sanctions on a number of blacklisted people. These sanctions required states to restrict the listed people -mostly Taliban leaders- from entering their territories, and generally regard them as most wanted!
Over here, I do not wish to say that the US did anything wrong in searching for the culprits of the 9/11 incident, or that the Taliban were not guilty. However, I would like to pin point the damage that has been done to the human rights of most of the Afghans till date, just in the name of war on terror.
The United Nations claims to be one of the biggest supporters of human rights for the people all over the world. However, the aftermath of the 1267 resolution was certainly nowhere near the lines of humanitarianism. In the name of fighting against terror and disharmony, thousands of innocent Afghans were and are still being killed till date. The question such a resolution raises in my mind is, is terror the way to counter terror?
We all know, and would agree that the 9/11 incident was surely something that none of the Muslims states were proud of, as the eventual consequence of the incident was the stereotyping of the entire Muslim population of the world as terrorists. Of course, along with the hundreds that died in the 9/11 incident, even the human rights of millions of others were put at stake when the United Nations -under UNSC- came up with a resolution that was nothing but a spark that would initiate an inevitable number of terror and war incidents in the future.
Furthermore, while living in Pakistan, one incident that shook the entire Pakistani nation was that of the 2nd of May, 2011. This was when Osama bin Laden, the person topping the list of most wanted people made by the United Nations Security Council, was found in the territories of the Pakistani land, and killed by the members of the United States Naval Special Warfare Development Group and Central Intelligence Agency operatives in an undercover operation. Although this development marked a huge step of success for the US military; it put, at the same time, the integrity of the Pakistani government and its promises of cooperation with the US government in order to fight against terrorism at stake.
During General Musharrafs tenure, one of the most important developments that took place was a contract of US-Pakistan cooperation in fighting terrorism, and for this reason, Pakistan willingly provided the safe routes from the Pakistani lands into the Afghan territory. However, what happened during the US operation, in the name of fighting terrorism, was that most of the afghan civilians lost their basic human rights of survival and having a healthy place to live in. The war-ridden country of Afghanistan was indeed what none of the Afghans wanted. However, in spite of all the atrocities faced by the Afghans, and also the fact that Afghanistan is itself a part of the United Nations; nothing much was done to improve the conditions of the Afghans living in a state of war every day. Even those Afghans, who were not even on the list of individuals subject to sanctions composed under the 1267 resolution, lost all the basic rights of survival.
The 1267 resolution passed under the United Nations Security Council was said to be intending on freeing the world from terror activities, and taking strict measures against the big names involved in promoting terrorism. However, the fact remains that in spite of the list of aims and objectives of implementing the resolution, the end results were nothing along the lines of humanitarianism or fighting terrorism. The United Nations, therefore, needs to come up with clearer and more evident measures against terrorism of any kind, and place no boundaries against human rights as well. The large number of innocent people, who lost their lives in this battle of fighting for human rights, was left with no kinds of human rights for themselves. Who will be answerable for them? Sadly, it is a known fact that no other 1267 resolution would be passed to fight for the rights of these people; as if terror was actually the answer to terror!
Sakina Kavi is an aspiring journalist pursuing a degree in Mass Communication from the University of Karachi. Being a left-winger, Sakina believes in social equality and freedom of speech for all. Sakina tweets @Sakinakavi
Source
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