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Pakistan offered permanent membership of the UNSC by ‘powerful western countries’

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Pakistan has been offered to launch its candidature for the permanent membership of the UN Security Council by some powerful western countries, who have suggested Islamabad to opt for the option in order to break the ongoing deadlock to reform the UN’s charter.

According to report, Pakistan rejected the offer because it saw it as part of a deliberate strategy to weaken the group opposed to the expansion of permanent seats on the UN Security Council.

A diplomatic source reportedly confirmed the news about the offer made to Pakistan by some powerful Western countries, but said the idea was rejected because there were doubts about its authenticity.

“Some powerful countries have approached us and said Pakistan should launch its bid for the permanent seat at the UNSC. Pakistan turned down the idea since it knew the offer was not genuine but the ploy to push Islamabad to leave the Uniting for Consensus (UFC) group that is opposed to the expansion of the UNSC,” said the official.

This comes at a time when the Pakistan-Italy-led group UFC was able to thwart the latest push by the G-4 group, which includes India, Brazil, Germany, and Japan, to seek UNSC permanent membership expansion.

UFC, a coalition of at least 13 countries that includes Pakistan, Italy, Canada, South Korea, Argentina, Spain, and Turkey, has been lobbying against increasing the number of permanent seats on the UN Security Council.

The United Nations General Assembly recently decided to postpone the inter-governmental negotiations (IGNs) on Security Council reform until the next session of the General Assembly. It is credited with UFC’s success.

In contrast to G4, UFC has proposed additional non-permanent seats with longer terms and the possibility of re-election.

“The process to reform the UNSC had to kickstart from the UNGA. For any reforms, it required a vote of the two-thirds members of the 193-strong UNGA. At present, neither side has the required number,” said an official from the foreign office.

“Unlike the G-4, the UFC is not merely seeking reforms through the two-thirds vote but a wider consensus in order to avoid any hiccup in the reform process, which involves several delicate and complicated steps. G-4 had been pushing for years for moving from oral negotiations to text-based negotiations. But Pakistan, along with other countries of UFC have been opposing the move because agreement on text-based negotiations means locking the proposals and discussions, which the G-4 desperately wants,” the official added.

At the moment, the UN Security Council has at least five permanent members with veto power, and ten non-permanent members are elected for two-year terms.

About the author

Brendan Taylor

Brendan Taylor was a TV news producer for 5 and a half years. He is an experienced writer. Brendan covers Breaking News at Insider Paper.







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