As India and other G-4 countries stepped up efforts to get permanent seats in the United Nations Security Council, Pakistan has claimed that its opposition to expansion of the world body's top organ was not 'country-specific', but
based on principles.
Pakistan along with Italy formed a 'Coffee Club' at the United Nations to campaign against the G-4 countries' bid for
permanent membership in the UNSC.
The UN needs reforms to reinvigorate and reinvent itself in order to play its role more effectively, Prime Minister
Shaukat Aziz, currently touring Germany, said at a function at the Bertelsmann Foundation in Berlin on Monday.
He said the expansion of the Security Council was one part of the UN reforms and added that it should be through
consensus.
"Whatever the outcome, it should be to strengthen the organisation and not to polarise it," he was quoted as saying by the official APP news agency.
Claiming that Pakistan's stand on the expansion of the UNSC was based on principles, Aziz insisted that it was not
country-specific and therefore it would not reflect its relations with any nation.
He also said Pakistan was against terrorism in all its forms. "We remain steadfast in our opposition to terrorism, we
are convinced that a lasting solution to this problem requires elimination of the root causes of terrorism. We believe that
terrorism stems from the denial of justice, from deprivation and from dehumanisation of people," he said.
"We must address the problem of terrorism historically and not just focus on one aspect. Islam is a religion of peace and it should not be linked with any kind of terrorism," he said.
