It is a common misconception among people that United Nations upholding of international law makes it best placed to regulate international relations and solve international conflicts. Muslim world is being deceived to look up to these institutions time and again in hope that they will act as our savior in crises in Chechnya, Kashmir and the Middle East. If we were to look at recent history, the hypocritical nature of such institutions becomes appallingly clear. The UN was founded in 1945 primarily to 'save succeeding generations from the scourge of war'. Since then there have been more then 250 conflicts worldwide. It is patently clear the UN has been unsuccessful for the purpose it was created for. The UN, in reality, is a tool of exploitation. It is manifestly apparent from the inherent structure of this organization that it legitimizes wholesale abuse by the neo-colonialist of this century, the permanent members of the Security Council. The recent invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan, the selective application of international law on the state of Israel, the failure to stop massacres in Serbia and ethnic cleansing in Rwanda are all testimonies of that fact. -SHARIQUE NAEEM, Lahore, via e-mail, June 19.