5th Model United Nations concludes with decorum, fanfare

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, July 28

“Talks and terror cannot go together and investing in young people, who carry the future of the country on their shoulder, will help maintain a fine balance that differentiates between war and peace, violence and non-violence.”These were the concluding words of former Chief of the Army Staff, General Bikram Singh, on the closing day of the Model United Nations (MUN) at Strawberry Fields High School in Sector 26, here on Saturday.As he awarded young students, who had shown exemplary leadership and excellence during the four-day MUN hosted by Strawberry Fields High School for the fifth year in a row, an audience of around 500 students and teachers gave him a resounding applause, echoing his sentiment and expectations from the citizens of tomorrow.The 5th MUN concluded with befitting decorum and fanfare. The school campus was abuzz with student delegates in the final exchanges of deliberations and resolutions.The ambient environs, state-of-the-art facilities of the school that served as committee rooms for three full days of discussions, deliberations, sharing of views and counter-views was as close as it could get to a simulated setting of the UN Headquarters.The school’s Newton Hall was filled to capacity, eager to interact as General Bikram Singh explained that the two most important requirements for success were moral and physical courage.Emphasising the virtue of integrity, the former Army Chief opined that the need of the hour was that the youth must imbibe technical and conceptual skills keeping up the spirit of enquiry. Reminding students of the Kargil victory which was possible due to the ‘never say die’ attitude of the Indian Army, he responded to a question on revoking of AFSPA as it impinged on human rights, he explained it was a last resort to aiding civil authority.According to General Singh, if a volatile situation could not be handled by the police, the custodians of law, then, the Army was obligated to step in.He made it clear that they were usually called back soon, but if the crisis did not resolve in a given time period, the area was declared to be ‘disturbed’ and the Army took on greater power, could issue search warrants, arrest offenders and even use firearms if necessary.He explained that the Army had legal cover during such times. He was of the opinion that since India had such ‘hostile, disputed and porous borders’, this was necessary and must carry on ‘untampered and undiluted’.The General shared his views on national power and the relationship that India and Pakistan share today. He was of the view that there needed to be an interface on several fronts, namely economic, information, military, political and diplomatic.Speaking on the occasion, Atul Khanna, Director, Durga Das Foundation, said: “Sensitising young people to present day realities and future concerns is important. It is their energy, optimism, maturity and diplomacy that will make the world of tomorrow more livable, more equal and more just. The MUN is an excellent way of bringing about that awareness and sense of responsibility.”