Asia-Pacific

Pakistan opposes Obama's call for India UNSC seat

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2010-11-09 13:09

ISLAMABAD - Pakistan angrily reacted to United States President Barack Obama's support for a permanent seat for India in any reformed Security Council, local media reported Tuesday.

Obama in his address to the Indian parliament supported India to secure a permanent seat in the UN Security Council.

"Pakistan believes that US endorsement of India's bid for its permanent seat in the Security Council adds to the complexity of the process of reforms of the Council," Pakistan's Foreign Office said Monday.

The US president said the just and sustainable international order that America seeks includes a United Nations that is efficient, effective, credible and legitimate.

"That is why I can say today - in the years ahead, I look forward to a reformed UN Security Council that includes India as a permanent member," Obama told the Indian parliament Monday.

The five permanent members of the Security Council are Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States.

The Pakistan spokesman said he hoped that US, which contributed immensely to the founding of the UN system and, in particular, its Charter principles will take a moral view and not base itself on any temporary expediency or exigencies of power politics.

"India's aspirations for recognition as a global power notwithstanding, there are reasons enough to discredit this proposed direction of the process of UNSC reforms such as India's conduct in relations with its neighbors and its continued flagrant violations of Security Council resolutions on Jammu and Kashmir," the spokesman said in a statement.

He said US has acknowledged that UN Security Council reform is a difficult process and will take significant time, adding that Pakistan's position on UN Security Council's reforms is based on principles.