Pakistan slams India for seeking permanent UNSC seat, proposes new category

NEW DELHI: Pakistan has slammed India besides three other countries - Brazil, Germany and Japan- for seeking permanent UN Security Council ( UNSC) membership, according to a report of a Pakistan daily, Dawn.

Maleeha Lodhi, Pakistan's Ambassador to the United Nations, said that Pakistan wants UNSC to form a new category whose members will not be permanent and will be the part of the group for only a certain period of time, and can be re-elected only once.

"In the 21st century, it is inconceivable to establish or run an institution - national or international - which does not embrace the fundamental principles of representation and accountability with periodic elections and fixed term and rotation," Dawn cited Lodhi as saying during the Intergovernmental Negotiations (IGN) process aimed at expanding the Security Council.

In 2015, Pakistan's Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had said that his country would not accept India as a permanent member of the UNSC.

Till now, only five countries - China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States - are the permanent members of the UNSC. India, Brazil, Germany and Japan has been mulling for a permanent UNSC berth for almost two decades now.