The Nehru Report and Muslim Rights — Page 65
. . [ 65 ] they are not enforced according to the intentions of the framers. A physician may have in stock any amount of quinine pills but the whole lot js of no use if it is not. administered to the patients. A iaw in itself is absolutely nothing ; it is essential that a good law should also be enforced in the right spirit. Its result depends upon its proper enforcement. Even if the rights of minorities are protected by mea::1s of legislative action, but a proper enforcement of such a legislation is not provided for, there is no prospect of peace for the minorities. The League of Nations, in dealing with the question of pro tection for minorities, has also admitted that law alone is hardly worth while unless its operation in the manner intended can be properly watched. As an example, there is the case of Esthonia. When the League dem3. nded an evidence of its treatment of the minorities, the Esthonian Government at first refused to produce such. evidence and contended that the League was entitled to interfere only in the case of an infringement of the laws for the protection of the minorities. In his note on the reply of the Esthonian Government, the representative of the League, who was appointed to deal with the case, observed that the views of the Esthonian Government, if accepted, "would give the Council no power n to interfere with their actions until they proceeded to modify the constitution affecting the Minority. But if. without making any such change, the Esthonian Government con tinued to oppress the minorities, there would be no remedy open to the League. ( Vide, Official Journal of the League of Nations, for November, 1922. ) The League supported the views expressed by its agent, and rejected Esthonia' s reply with the remark that it did not ensure the safety of the minorities. The incident shows that aH reasonable people the world over are agreed that the mere justness of a parti-