Pakistan’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Asim Iftikhar Ahmed, has once again made clear Pakistan’s unequivocal position on the reform of the Security Council (UNSC), and demanded abolishing the Veto power.
Pakistan has demanded that the ‘veto power’ of the permanent members of the Security Council be abolished or significantly reduced, as it is the biggest obstacle to world peace.
Pakistan’s position is that the exercise of veto power by the five permanent members of the Security Council (P5) paralyzes the Council. According to Pakistan, the presence of veto power is against the UN Charter and the principle of equality of all states. Ambassador Asim Iftikhar stressed that as long as a few countries continue to have special privileges, it will not be possible to establish global justice and peace.
Pakistan has strongly opposed the efforts of other countries (G4), including India, to become permanent members of the Security Council. Pakistan says that increasing the number of permanent members will increase factionalism in the Council and make the institution more undemocratic. Instead of creating new ‘privileged centres’, Pakistan says, the Council should be made accountable to more countries.
Pakistan has proposed from the platform of the “United for Consensus” (UfC) group that the number of non-permanent (elected) members in the Security Council should be increased. The term of elected members should be increased so that more countries have the opportunity to be represented in rotation.
The Pakistani delegate, citing crises such as Gaza, Kashmir, and Ukraine, said that the Security Council has failed to prevent human tragedies due to its veto power. Whenever a powerful country or its ally is involved in a conflict, it uses the veto to block the Council from taking action.
Pakistan demands that reforms be brought to the United Nations that are for the “good of all” rather than the “interests of a few”. Pakistan’s clear slogan is: “Reforms for all, no special privileges for any”.
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