By Prof. Engr. Zamir Ahmed Awan (ex-Diplomat, Editor, Analyst)
Humankind history is full of wars, conflicts, aggression, hate, misunderstanding, and all type of problems. In either case, it is the humankind, the worst victim of all such incidents. Irrespective of who was right or wrong, the casualties were more or less, at least the loss of human lives should be regretted.
We claim to live in a civilized world, ruled under the UN charter. Yet, the suffering of human beings has not reached an end. Still, people are killed, arrested, mistreated, oppressed, starved, humiliated, in many parts of the world.
The situation in the Middle-East, where approximately 12 million people have been killed, just in the last couple of decades, yet the tension is kept on growing. South America, Africa, South Asia, etc., everywhere prevails unrest. But a big disaster is predicted in Sino-US relations.
China and the US are the two largest economies and are contributors to the global economy. Any tension between the two countries might have severe consequences on the rest of the world. Unfortunately, anxiety is growing.
Watching mainstream Western media, like CNN, BBC, Fox News, The New York Times, Washington Post, Guuardianm WSJ, Reuters etc, one will observe the main focus is to criticize China, bash China, blame China. This phenomenon can be compared to the pre-Iraq war when Western Media was reporting that Iraq has Weapons of Mass Destructions (WMD).
They built a narrative and launched a media campaign against Iraq and leveled ground for Iraq-War. What happened, after destroying Iraq, the same Western media confessed that there were no WMD, and their previous reports were based on misinformation. Before attacking Syria, the same Western Media built a narrative that Syria is using chemical/ biological Weapons against rebellion.
But later on, confessed that it was wrongly reported. Similar was the case on the Libya war. Apology or confess, could not make the 12 million killed people alive. Life is the most precious thing in this universe, and killing is an irreversible biological process, one must be extraordinarily careful in loss of lives. Human beings are expensive and valuable; we must respect Humanity and save the loss of human lives, irrespective of race, religion, ethnicity, color, or social status.
One can observe the similarities between then and today, the historical building against China. Is war being imposed on China? Is Humanity being humiliated again? Is the loss of precious Human lives being planned? UN could not avert the disaster then, and should we expect that the UN will avert any Disaster now? Is there any country, nation, organization, or individuals thinking in terms of saving Humanity? Should we keep silent and become spectators, waiting for our turn? Are we still live in primitive society and the law of the jungle – the fittest is to survive? Yet we claim a civilized world!
Yes, I believe the differences may exist, which is very much reasonable and in our nature as human beings. But there are mechanisms to address them; I believe the UN Charter is perfect to overcome most of the issues. The supremacy of the UN must be established and strengthened to achieve such goals.
It is appealed to every individual to struggle to build a society where everyone is safe, secure, having access to justice, livelihood, and equality. We must strive to eradicate poverty, hunger, and starvation. We may struggle to fight against natural disasters. We must cooperate to face the challenges of Pandemic.
Scholars, Intellectuals, and Think Tanks may focus on finding solutions to achieve a stage of the real civilized world. Open debate may be initiated; I am quite optimistic, we can find a reasonable solution to all problems. It might not be an easy task and might face colossal resistance but need to struggle sustainably. But we have to struggle and keep on the momentum until we reach our goals. If we claim to be a civilized world, we must achieve certain parameters, where human beings are the center-piece.
Author: Prof. Engr. Zamir Ahmed Awan, Sinologist (ex-Diplomat), Editor, Analyst, Non-Resident Fellow of CCG (Center for China and Globalization), National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST), Islamabad, Pakistan.
(The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of World Geostrategic Insights)