Pakistan criticises G4 pitch for UNSC expansion

Pakistan has criticised the G4 countries’ demand to add more permanent members to the UN Security Council saying that it is based on “poor logic” and reflected the “self-serving national ambition” of a few. A statement criticising the decision was issued on May 10, reiterating the line of Pakistan’s envoy to the UN Ambassador Maleeha Lodhi, who had said that the objective of the Council’s expansion should be to respond to the concerns and “aspirations of all”. The statement claimed that Ms Lodhi had “exposed” the G4 position on the Security Council expansion last week. “To propose the allocation of 4—6 seats permanently to those many countries, while handing over only 4—5 seats to the rest of the membership is not only poor mathematics but also poor logic and even poorer rationale for a just and meaningful reform”, she said. On May 2, India’s Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador Syed Akbaruddin spoke on behalf of the G4 nations—Brazil, Germany, India and Japan. He said that the “imbalance of influence” in the Council cannot be corrected if only non-permanent members are added to the powerful UN body. Pakistan opposed the proposal that sought expansion in permanent membership. Ms Lodhi argued that this runs contrary to the principles that all member states agree on, which aim to make the Council more representative, democratic, accountable, transparent and effective. She further added that additional electable seats on the basis of periodic elections and fixed rotation would allow equal, fair and increased opportunity to all states to aspire for the Security Council’s membership.