Secretary General Kofi Annan on Tuesday complimented Chinmaya R Gharekhan, India's former permanent representative to the United Nations, for his book on the organisation.
"I am happy that finally someone who had known the organisation for sometime has done a book. He allowed himself time and distance to reflect before he wrote it. It is a good book. Sometimes, there is a tendency to do a hurried job by instant historians [and he has not done that]," Annan said at the US release of Gharekhan's book The Horseshoe Table An Inside View of the UN Security Council at the United Nations bookshop.
Gharekhan had served as India's representative on the Security Council, including twice as president, as well as secretary-general Boutros Ghali's personal representative on the Council for four years. The book was launched in India earlier this year.
Gharekhan said he decided to write the book because he believed that the Security Council is the most important organ of the UN and that it was necessary for ordinary people of the world to see 'how exactly it works or it does not'.
When his book was launched first in India earlier this year, Shashi Tharoor, undersecretary-general, said that Gharekhan's insights into the workings of the institution that determines questions of international peace and security are profound, educative and wise.
"I hope it is going to be a bestseller at the UN book store. There is a lot in the book, including about the election of two secretary-generals, including Annan, as well as many other events of the 1990s at the United Nations," Tharoor, who was present at the release said.
Among those present at the brief book launch ceremony included Nirupam Sen, India's Permanent Representative to the US besides some UN officials who had known Gharekhan during his tenure.
Gharekhan said the idea behind the book was to give a feel of the horseshoe table, around which 15 distinguished mostly men, but occasionally women, sit around to ordinary people.
"It essential for people of the world to see for themselves how the Security Council takes decisions," he said.
"You may not know that when the first Gulf War broke out in January 1991, it took the Security Council five weeks before it could consider that important development. It is an organ that is full of intrigues, full of complications -- it is an ideal situation for people like Shashi Tharoor to write many books about it. I hope he does write one," Gharekhan said.
Asked how realistic Gharekhan's description about the Council, to which India aspires to be a permanent member, is, Annan parried a reply.
But he said that no reform of the United Nations would be complete without the reform of the Security Council.
"I have made it clear that in my judgment no reform of the United Nations will be complete without a reform of the Security Council. Major countries, major regions are not represented in the council, and the world has changed," Annan said.
But the outgoing chief of the world body would not comment on India's aspirations for a permanent seat on the Council.
"I think you should read the book and form your own opinion and then put me on the spot," he said in a light vein in response to the question.
"I have been pushing for reforms of the UN Security Council and I still believe that the Council should be reformed," Annan said.
Former Singapore ambassador to the UN Kishore Mahbubani, who is now the Dean of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, NUS and author of Beyond the Age of Innocence: Rebuilding rust between America and the World, noted that few people are aware that the Security Council is probably the most powerful international organisation with the power to authorise war.
"Despite its great importance, the Security Council has been shrouded in secrecy, with few understanding how it really works. Chinmaya Gharekhan has done mankind a huge service by lifting this veil of secrecy. He provides many useful and fascinating insights into the real nature of the council," he said.
