Pakistan not vying for a permanent UN seat, NA told

ISLAMABAD
Mian Abrar
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Monday informed the National Assembly that in contrast to India’s demand to allocate it a permanent membership in the UN Security Council, Pakistan is not vying for the slot at all.
“Let me say at the outset that Pakistan is not seeking permanent membership of the UN Security Council,” said Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi in a written reply to a question raised by Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) Member of National Assembly Bushra Rehman.
“The current efforts to reform the Security Council date back to the early 1990s. The discussions have been focused on five inter-linked issues of the size of the reformed council, the categories of seats, the question of veto, regional representation, working-methods of the council and the relationship between the UN General Assembly and UN Security Council. However, some aspirant countries are propagating as if the expansion of permanent membership is the only focus of the reform process, which it is not,” Qureshi said.
The council needs a comprehensive reform encompassing all the five intricately linked-issues,” he added.
The minister said it was a considered view of Pakistan, also shared by a large number of countries, that the realities of the 21st century were totally different from the situation existing in 1945.
“We live in an age of democracy, rule of law, equality and accountability. In this age of democracy and democratisation, we need a security council which is inclusive, democratic, effective, transparent and accountable to the general membership of the UN. We advocate a reform that is based on the principle of sovereign equality of member states as enshrined in the UN Charter. We want a reform that will lead to a more united and strengthened United Nations. We want a reform where small and medium states have more opportunity to serve on the UN Security Council and make their contribution towards international peace and stability,” he added.
Accountable: The minister said that based on these principles, Pakistan has consistently and unambiguously advocated for expansion in the non-permanent membership category of the UN Security Council. The non-permanent members being elected through the democratic method of elections in the General Assembly are accountable to the general membership.
“The very notion of permanent membership negates the essence of democracy and accountability. We have therefore opposed creation of new centres of privilege by expansion in the permanent membership category for individual member states. The permanent members, being accountable to no one, are more likely to promote their own interests rather than interests of the general membership,” he added.
Power politics: “Pakistan therefore believes that expansion in the permanent membership category will make the council less transparent, less democratic and less accountable to the general membership. In our view, the future of UN and of succeeding generations cannot and must not be premised on considerations of power politics and politics of expediency. We had no choice in 1945, but today we all enjoy the democratic right to make correct decisions,” the statement said.
Pakistan, along with Uniting for Consensus (UFC) group of like-minded countries, has adopted an open and pragmatic approach to the reform issue.
“We support expansion in the non-permanent category of UN Security Council membership to make it more democratic, effective and capable of responding to the challenges of the 21st century,” Qureshi said.