India at UNSC

India's election shows opposition to Pakistan’s stance that India does not qualify for the prestigious UNSC

India’s unopposed election to the United Nations Security Council does raise a big question mark on the performance of Pakistan’s foreign ministry. India’s election to a principal organ of the world body as one of its 10 non-permanent members for a two-year term comes at a time when New Delhi’s reign of terror in occupied Kashmir is at its peak; and Modi and Co is trying every barbaric tactic — like the incessant lockdown of the whole valley — to coerce innocent Kashmiris into accepting its illegitimate rule, being imposed through Articles 370 and 35A.

For a seat from the Asia-Pacific region, India was voted for by 184 countries out of the 192 that participated in the election — something which shows an overwhelming global support for the country, and which is akin to an overwhelming global opposition to Pakistan’s stance that India does not qualify for the prestigious UNSC seat in view of its grave human rights violation in Kashmir and its disregard towards the UNSC resolutions themselves that call for a plebiscite for the Kashmiris to determine their fate themselves.

India’s election by a big margin — especially with no-one opposing — is indeed an example of Pakistan’s poor diplomacy. While the result ensures that India will now share the table with China — just days after the two disputed their Himalayan border, trading blame for a brawl that left at least 20 Indian soldiers dead — it is particularly significant for Pakistan which faces several diplomatic challenges from its archrival at the United Nations.

Shah Mahmood Qureshi, our foreign minister, however, does not agree. He says that if India has friends at the UNSC, so does Pakistan. “Our friends are present there permanently and if India wants to scheme against us after getting elected, then we can have their [schemes] blocked via our friends,” he said during a recent TV interview.

Let alone the opposition, one of Qureshi’s own party colleagues is not ready to accept his defence. Federal Minister for Human Rights Shireen Mazari says that India’s election as UNSC’s non-permanent member gives its oppressive tactics against Kashmiri civilians as well as its illegitimate actions against Pakistan, China, and Nepal a ‘quasi political legitimacy’. This also poses a question that flies in the face of the UN charter.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 20^th, 2020.

Like Opinion & Editorial on Facebook, follow @ETOpEd on Twitter to receive all updates on all our daily pieces.