UNITED NATIONS: Pakistan has urged the United Nations to add non-permanent members to the Security Council to ensure equitable representation of all 193 member states of the world body.

In a debate on the Security Council’s 2023 report on Friday, Pakistan UN Ambassador Munir Akram also emphasized the need to separate terrorism from legitimate struggles for self-determination.

While thanking the council for preparing the 2023 report, he pointed out that the presentation of this report had become a mere ritual as “it contains no content on the substance of its deliberations and decisions.” To become more democratic, transparent, accountable, and representative, “the Security Council’s membership should be increased by adding 10-11 non-permanent members to ensure the equitable representation of the UN’s current 193 member states.

Adding new permanent members would exacerbate the Council’s paralysis,” he said, Ambassador Khan said that the council’s working methods also required reform, such as the adoption of its rules of procedure; record-keeping of informal consultations; and the convening of closed-door meetings as the exception rather than the rule.

Membership of the world body should be increased by adding 10-11 non-permanent members

The Pakistani envoy said that the Security Council’s Counter-Terrorism architecture must become more comprehensive and equitable. “It should address the new and emerging terrorist threats, such as the fascist and Hindutva inspired terrorism rather than limiting the scope of counterterrorism to the Muslim groups only,” he said.

Ambassador Khan insisted that it was also “essential to distinguish terrorism from the legitimate struggles for the right to self-determination and national liberation.” One of the Security Council’s greatest failures, he said, was its inability to secure the implementation of its own resolutions which sought to enable the peoples of Palestine and Jammu and Kashmir to exercise their right to self-determination.

He noted that despite Security Council’s unequivocal resolutions calling for a UN supervised plebiscite in Jammu and Kashmir, India continued its occupation of Kashmir through a reign of terror imposed by an occupying army exceeding 900,000 troops – one soldier for every 8th Kashmiri man, woman and child. The massive human rights violations in Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir, he said, were “a blot on the conscience of humanity. India must be held accountable for its war crimes and crimes against humanity in occupied Jammu and Kashmir.”

The Pakistani envoy noted that the festering dispute over Jammu and Kashmir continued to pose an ever-present threat of another conflict between Pakistan and India.

“The Security Council’s failure to secure implementation of its own resolutions, to end Indian occupation and enable the people of Jammu and Kashmir to exercise their right to self-determination vividly contravenes its credibility and legitimacy,” Ambassador Akram said.

Published in Dawn, July 2nd, 2023