The Reminiscences of Zafrulla Khan — Page 235
219 REMINISCENCES OF SIR MUHAMMAD ZAFRULLA KHAN questions, because occasionally I would have to choose between them and it gave me a sort of advance notice of their attitudes. Another matter that I had in mind was that if possible one should promote cooperation in the chamber by working behind the scenes to some degree, although the President, of course, must not be a partisan of any section. He is the servant of the Assembly, and whatever his own personal views or the views of his government over any particular question that might come before the Assembly, those should become irrelevant. He should concentrate on promoting cooperation, helpful- ness, dispatch and wherever possible give and take so that things should not drag out too long. People should get to some kind of a decision or something which would prevent a resolution being adopted by 51 to 49, where a simple majority would do, or by just two-thirds, where two- thirds was needed; that did not carry much weight. That meant that some major group or some combination of groups was either opposed or had abstained, and that took away a great deal from the moral force of the recommendation. After all, the Assembly only recommends. Under the Charter, the Assembly cannot, itself take or authorize executive action; that is the business of the Security Council. The Assembly can only make recommendations and a recommendation has value only as the moral judgment of the Assembly. If it was made unanimously or with near-unanimity, under today's conditions of membership, it would be the moral judgment of the world, as it were, and that is its real value. I think the President can contribute a great deal towards bringing that about. Question : I think that gives us a very good idea of the preceding events before your election, and perhaps now we ought to turn to the experiences which you had as the President, and the obligations of the presidency, what had to be done on the floor everyday, what had to be done with the agenda, and so on. Zafrulla : The obligations are nowhere laid down; if they were, they would be both helpful and also obstructive. It was perhaps part of wisdom that nobody had attempted to lay anything of that kind down and that applies to everything in the United Nations. Things are expressed in general terms and that leaves room for a good deal of leeway and adjustment to each situation as it might arise. The element of dispatch had become rather important, for the previous session, the 16th, had extended over five and a half months.