Backing India's bid for a permanent membership, United States has started reaching out to other Security Council members on the reform of the apex United Nations body but said it could not set a target date for expansion of the UNSC.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Sunday said he views the current situation in Ukraine as an issue of humanity and human values and not of politics or economy even as he called for respecting international law, sovereignty and territorial integrity of all nations.
French President Nicholas Sarkozy made a strong pitch for India's inclusion as a permanent member of the UN Security Council on Tuesday, which he said needs to be expanded to make it more inclusive."Did you know that India... in 30 years time... the world's most populous nation, doesn't have a permanent seat on the Security Council?" said the French president, hosted by Columbia University as part of the World Leaders Forum.
White House Spokesman Tony Snow evaded a question on a seat for India in the UNSC saying he was 'not aware' of any official position on the issue.
In a major breakthrough, the United Nations Security Council on Saturday voted unanimously on a resolution to destroy Syria's chemicals weapons stockpile and warned of strong action in case of non-compliance by Damascus.
Guterres, who opened an emergency meeting of the 15-nation Security Council on Ukraine late Wednesday, in his brief off-the-cuff remarks said 'if indeed an operation is being prepared, I have only one thing to say from the bottom of my heart: President Putin, stop your troops from attacking Ukraine. Give peace a chance. Too many people have already died'.
The presidency of the Council is held by each of the members in turn for one month, following the English alphabetical order of the member states' names. According to the information released by the office of the UN spokesperson, India will assume the rotating presidency of the Council for the month of August next year.
Closed meetings are not open to the public and no verbatim record of statements is kept.
The United States will host a team from India at the State Department over two days beginning on Monday to discuss strategy for a way forward toward UNSC expansion.
President Pratibha Patil on Wednesday indicated that she will seek China's support for India's bid for a permanent seat in the UN Security Council during her six-day visit to the country, the first by an Indian head of state in a decade.
Shringla said India will continue to work towards the reformed United Nations during its stint as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council.
India and Brazil on Wednesday called for urgent progress in reforms of the UN Security Council, as they agreed to scale up bilateral ties and deepen cooperation in international fora.
In a post on X, Modi said, "Happy to have welcomed @POTUS @JoeBiden to 7, Lok Kalyan Marg. Our meeting was very productive."
The UN General Assembly on Monday adopted a negotiating text by consensus for the long-pending Security Council reforms, setting the stage for talks on the issue at its 70th session beginning on Tuesday, boosting India's bid for a permanent seat in the revamped world body.
The resolution, sponsored among others by Algeria, Bahrain, Iraq, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Palestine, demanded an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza and reiterated its demand that all parties comply with their obligations under international law, "notably with regard to the protection of civilians."
The diplomat made the remarks replying to lawmakers' questions on New Delhi abstaining from several UN vote on Russian aggression against Ukraine.
"The 21st century peacekeeping must be anchored in a strong ecosystem of technology and innovation that can facilitate UN peacekeeping operations in implementing their mandates in complex environments," India's external affairs minister S Jaishankar said
India has slammed the "indifference" of some UNSC towards restraining terrorists, saying it has questioned the Security Council's ability to combat terrorism.
India's Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN, Ambassador K Nagaraj Naidu, on Monday wrote a letter to President of the 74th Session of the General Assembly, Tijjani Muhammad-Bande, expressing New Delhi's strong disappointment over the decision regarding roll-over of the intergovernmental negotiations (IGN) on UNSC reforms into the next session of the General Assembly that begins this month.
'Wherever in the world there is political instability, those countries are beset with severe crises today. But India is in a much better position than the rest of the world due to the decisions taken by my government in the national interest,' President Droupadi Murmu said in her address to both Houses of Parliament.
Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram on Wednesday said it is too premature to congratulate ourselves over the UN Security Council adopting a resolution on Afghanistan, and cautioned that the possible axis of China, Pakistan and Taliban-controlled Afghanistan is a cause for worry.
India, regarded as a key emerging political and economic power, would be the president of the powerful United Nations Security Council in August and again later next year, most likely in November 2012, during its two-year term.
Russia vetoed the United States-sponsored resolution on Friday that 'deplored in the strongest terms' Russia's 'aggression' against Ukraine and asked Moscow to immediately stop its attack on that country.
Jaishankar said he emphasised that India supports diplomacy and dialogue as the "way out".
The resolution proposed by Russia that called for a humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza but made no mention of Hamas' attack on Israel.
The Biden administration expects the Modi government to continue to remain as its loyal camp follower even as Washington continues to act in self-interests, observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
India's permanent membership in the reformed UNSC is unacceptable to Pakistan
He also said that when it comes to proscribing some terrorists, the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) has 'regrettably' been unable to act in some cases because of 'political considerations'.
The United Kingdom, France and Nepal have supported India's candidature as a permanent member of a reformed United Nations Security Council as member nations expressed frustration at the lack of progress on long-pending reforms in the powerful UN body.
In a virtual address at the G20 Extraordinary Summit on Afghanistan, Modi also pressed for 'urgent and unhindered' humanitarian assistance to Afghan citizens and underlined the need for having an inclusive administration that includes women and minorities, according to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA).
The UNSC meeting also focussed on the 15th report of the Secretary-General on the threat posed by ISIL (Da'esh) to international peace and security and the range of United Nations efforts in support of member states in countering the threat.
Myanmar's former democratically-elected leader has been under house arrest since a military ousted her government in a coup in February 2021.
'We have been one of the most frequent countries to be on the Council. We have contributed so much to the maintenance of international peace and security,' India's Permanent Representative to the UN Asoke Mukerji tells Rediff.com's Suman Guha Mozumder.
In his statement while chairing the debate on "Enhancing Maritime Security - A Case for International Cooperation" via video conferencing, Modi highlighted that maritime routes were being misused for terrorism and piracy.
With the adoption of the UNSC resolution on Sunday, it was for the first time in 40 years that the council decided to call for an emergency special session in the General Assembly.
Majority of the 15 members said there should not be any statement or outcome issued after the consultations and their will prevailed, leaving China to come out and make a statement in its national capacity followed by Pakistan.
Speaking at a press conference in New Delhi, Polikha said, "We're suffering a lot of civilian casualties. According to official information of our ministry, already 16 children were killed from bombings, shellings and so on as a result of Russian peace-fighting operation."
Speaking at a press conference in New Delhi, Polikha said, "We're suffering a lot of civilian casualties. According to official information of our ministry, already 16 children were killed from bombings, shellings and so on as a result of Russian peace-fighting operation."
India has said that it was deeply concerned over the deteriorating situation in Ukraine and reiterated its call for immediate cessation of violence and end to hostilities.
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