Lahore: Pakistan envoy to United Nations Maleeha Lodhi said that reform of the 15-member UN Security Council should only be based on democratic principles underscoring the objective of expansion should be to respond to concerns and “aspirations of all, not just a few”. According to Dawn, speaking at an inter-government negotiations Lodhi took a shot at India’s logic and its allies saying that the G4 formula of adding more permanent seats reflected the ‘self-serving’ national ambition of certain nations.
“To propose allocation of 4-6 seats permanently to that 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. Expressing stern opposition to the proposal that sought expansion in permanent membership, Lodhi argued that this ran contrary to principles that all member states agree “to make the council more representative, democratic, accountable, transparent and effective”. Lodhi also said that the principle of sovereign equality of states demands equal opportunity for all states to seek membership of the council and argued that the concept of “representation” would be hollow without accountability to those who were being represented.
