Pakistan reiterates opposition to creation of new permanent seats in UNSC

Countries demanding permanent membership of 15-member body includes India

Pakistan’s Permanent representative to the United Nations Maleeha Lodhi firmly opposed the creation of new permanent seats on the security council during a debate at the UN General Assembly on Security Council reforms.

"Additional permanent seats were contrary to the universally agreed principles of democracy, accountability and transparency," she said.

Lodhi urged UN for an expansion in the non-permanent category based on equitable geographic distribution. She called for a fair rotational system that could be supported by all member states and groups.



She criticised the stance taken by a handful of countries - namely India, Brazil, Germany and Japan – who have been demanding permanent membership of the 15-member body for the past 20 years.

Despite a general agreement on enlarging the council, as part of the UN reform process, member states remain sharply divided over the details.

Pakistan, a leader in the Uniting for Consensus (UfC) group, stands for creating a new category of members — not permanent members — with longer duration and a possibility to get re-elected once.

But the “Group of Four” have been campaigning for enlarging the council by 10 seats, with six additional permanent and four non-permanent members.