UNITED NATIONS: Pakistan has said that the use of veto in the UN Security Council prevented a resolution of the longstanding dispute of Kashmir and hindered implementation of UN resolutions on the issue.
Taking part in the inter-governmental negotiation process on Security Council reform, Pakistan’s UN Ambassador Ms Maleeha Lodhi reiterated the country’s opposition to adding new permanent members to the Council with or without a veto. She said that any privileged role in decision-making would contradict the shared-goal of making the Security Council more democratic, representative and accountable.
“Pakistan supports expansion of the Security Council only in the non-permanent category,” she added.
Ms Lodhi said that Pakistan considers veto as an important issue that needed to be tackled as part of a comprehensive reform of the Security Council.
“This cannot be ignored or deferred. Pakistan does not support any proposal that aims to defer consideration of this key issue or leave open the possibility of its extension to other members through a review process,” she added.
She warned the UN that if the values of the 21st century like democracy, equal opportunity and non-discrimination were ignored in reforming the Council, there would be the grave risk of making the United Nations, a “Divided Nations”.
Pakistan, she said, believed that ideally the veto should be abolished. “But being cognisant that such proposals could themselves be vetoed, we support pragmatic approaches and measures that could restrict or limit the use of veto,” she added.
Referring to the previous debates, the Pakistani envoy said that much emphasis was placed on the effectiveness of the Council and its decision-making. “If today the Council remains paralysed and deadlocked over reconciling to accommodate the interests of the five permanent members, how will it cope with the interest of more such members?
