Pakistan plans to discredit India’s UNSC membership

General Assembly set to elect five non-permanent members today

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has devised a plan, envisaging a concerted diplomatic campaign to discredit the credentials of India as being the non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC).

India is almost certain to win a two-year term for the UNSC, when the General Assembly will elect 5 out of 10 non-permanent members on Wednesday. The term will start from January 2021.

India is contesting elections from the Asia-Pacific region. Its candidature was endorsed by the Asia Pacific group in June last year. Pakistan and China are part of the group.

A senior Foreign Office official, however, clarified that there was a misperception about the processes involved for the election of UNSC seats.

“India was the sole candidate from the Asia-Pacific group, therefore the question of endorsement never arose” the official explained. But eyebrows were raised in last June, when Indian Ambassador to the UN Sayed Akbaruddin, using his official twitter handle thanked Asia-Pacific countries, including Pakistan, for endorsing the candidature of India for the non-permanent seat of UNSC.

In a background briefing, the Foreign Office official told The Express Tribune that India was the sole candidate from the Asia-Pacific group and hence such endorsements were formalities. Pakistan in the past had also received similar endorsements.

But the official clarified that endorsement at the group stage had no bearing on the final outcome as every member still had to vote in the General Assembly through a secret ballot.

When asked whether Pakistan could have opposed Indian candidature at the group stage, the official responded in the affirmative. However, he added that such an approach would have opened a new diplomatic front at the UN, something that would have hurt Pakistan’s interests.

Substantiating his view, the official added that Pakistan at the moment had 8 candidatures for different forums, including for the non-permanent member seat for the UNSC. Any unnecessary opposition at the group stage would create problems for Pakistan in the long run, he said, adding that in the past Pakistan’s candidature for other UN forums was endorsed by the Asia-Pacific group of which India was also a part.

The sense gathered from the background discussion suggested that Pakistan and India despite having troubled ties might have some tacit understanding not to create obstacles at the UN as far as their respective nominations for different panels were concerned.

Pakistan and India have both got elected as members of UNSC for 7 times each. The only time both contested election against each other at the group stage was in 1970s. Islamabad had been able to defeat New Delhi at the time. After that both sides opted not to contest against each other.

However, both sides did try to have their respective two-year term overlapped. When India was on the UNSC from 2011 to 2012, Pakistan joined the council in 2012 and served till 2013.

This time too Pakistan wanted to contest the election for 2022-2023 in order to overlap Indian 2021-22 term but couldn’t do so since South Korea had already announced its candidature for the same term. Pakistan, which launched its candidature in 2014, is vying for 2025-26 term at the UNSC. So far, Pakistan is the lone candidate from the Asia Pacific region.

Responding to a question as to what were the guarantees that India would not oppose Pakistani nomination when it would come up for endorsement in 2024, the official said India would not take that risk. “If it does that it would lead to a diplomatic war between the two countries,” the official said, explaining that Pakistan also had the tools to hit back at India in such a case.

About Pakistan’s strategy, the official said Islamabad had an elaborate plan to discredit the Indian credentials at the UNSC. “You will see in the coming days how our plan unfolds,” he said, while playing down any concerns that India might use UNSC to create more troubles for Pakistan.

“India was a member of UNSC for 7 times. Had anything changed?” he asked, saying there was misperception that India would take advantage while being on the UNSC. “We are not sitting idle, we have our strategy and safeguards in place to protect our interests.”

Each year the General Assembly elects five non-permanent members (out of 10 in total) for a two-year term. The 10 non-permanent seats are distributed on a regional basis -- five for African and Asian states; one for Eastern European states; two for the Latin American and Caribbean states; and two for Western European and other states.

Out of 193 members, winning candidate needs 129 votes to get elected for the two-year term. India is likely to get the required number. The vote is cast through secret ballot. Pakistan and other countries never make their choice public. “Do you think Pakistan will vote in favour of India? You know the answer,” the official said, without replying explicitly.