The UN Security Council members on Monday reaffirmed the need for an immediate cessation of hostilities and violence in Afghanistan and that for any acceptance and legitimacy, there needs to be a political settlement that fully respects the human rights of women, children and minorities, India's Permanent Representative to the UN and President of the Security Council Ambassador T S Tirumurti said.
"We deeply appreciate the fact that President Obama made that declaration of support for India's candidature as a Permanent Member of the Security Council and subsequently to that we have had some useful discussion with the State Department," Indian Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao told media persons at a press conference in Washington.
Pakistan on Thursday said India's stand that the Simla Agreement of 1972 supersedes earlier United Nations resolutions on Kashmir is not legally tenable even as it sought "serious negotiations" on all outstanding disputes.
In a rare action, Pakistan accused External Affairs Minister S M Krishna of making a 'self-serving claim' at the United Nations General Assembly about Jammu and Kashmir being an integral part of the country.
The purge in Washington does not pause the war. Strikes continue, Hormuz remains closed, and Brent crude is still dancing around $109 a barrel. For India, the command chaos in the Pentagon is another layer of uncertainty piled on five weeks of conflict that was already straining every buffer Delhi has.
Top Pentagon officials have shown an understanding of India abstaining at the UN on resolutions against the Russian aggression against Ukraine but had a hard time pacifying many US lawmakers during a Congressional hearing on the Indo-Pacific on New Delhi's repeated abstention at the world body in New York.
Trump has made it clear: the US will not lift its blockade of Iranian ports until a deal is signed.
India has announced $12 million (Rs 73 crore) contribution to the United Nations to help it fight the deadly Ebola virus in the African continent.
In the wake of the recent hostilities, both sides have moved from weapons to words, with India dispatching several delegations to visit more than 30 capitals across the world. A similar effort by Pakistan is set to start on Jun 2.
India's Permanent Representative to the UN, T S Tirumurti, made the remarks while speaking at a special flag installation ceremony organised at the Security Council stakeout here on Monday. Flags of the five new incoming non-permanent members of the Security Council - India, Norway, Kenya, Ireland and Mexico - were installed at the stakeout during the special ceremony.
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 last time India sat on the Council, the Soviet Union was still a country and the first US invasion of Iraq was a taste of things to come in the new world order.
This came after Pakistan People's Party chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on Saturday stated that Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had tasked him to lead a delegation to present Pakistan's case on the recent escalations of tensions between the two nations.
Islamabad, which was elected on Friday along with Morocco, Guatemala and Togo for a term beginning on January 1, 2012, had voted for India to be included in the 10-nation non-permanent club last year. New Delhi began its two-year tenure in January this year.
On October 15, Rediff.com's Washington Editor AZIZ HANIFFA broke this story on how US officials wanted President Obama to support India as a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, telling him it could make his India visit truly historic. On November 8, President Obama told Parliament that the US supported India's membership of the UN Security Council.
Top military officials from India and Pakistan highlighted their views at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, billed as Asia's premier defence forum, amid heightened tensions between the two sides following last month's military confrontation.
Britain has pledged its full support to India in its bid to become a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council.
India is seeking a full-fledged permanent membership in the revamped United Nations Security Council. While many countries have expressed support for India's bid, Beijing is yet to fully back New Delhi. Russia and China, however, but stopped short of explicitly backing New Delhi's claim to a permanent seat in the revamped UN Security Council.
China supplied more than $20 billion worth of arms to Pakistan. These include 20 J-10CE and JF-17 Block III fighter aircraft, Wing Loong drones, frigates, submarines, Hongqi HQ-9P surface-to-air missiles, 240 PL-15E air-to-air missiles, LY-80 air defence systems, ZDK early warning aircraft and other weapons.
India proposes to organise a briefing of the Security Council on December 15 on 'Global counter-terrorism approach - principles and the way forward" under the 'Threats to international peace and security caused by terrorist acts'.
Guterres referred to the Simla Agreement, which is a bilateral agreement and rejects any third-party mediation in the issue.
Pakistan's ambassador to Russia, Muhammad Khalid Jamali, has warned that Pakistan will respond with "full spectrum of force", including nuclear, if it is attacked or its vital water flow is disrupted. The warning comes amid heightened tensions between Pakistan and India following a terrorist attack in Jammu and Kashmir. Jamali also reiterated Pakistan's stance on the Indus Water Treaty, saying any attempt to stop or divert water flow would be considered an act of war. He urged de-escalation, emphasizing the potential danger given both countries possess nuclear weapons. Jamali further called for a neutral investigation into the Kashmir attack, suggesting the involvement of China and Russia. He also highlighted the need to address the root causes of the conflict, pointing to the unresolved Kashmir issue and its potential for resentment.
Bhutto, who served as the Foreign Minister earlier, addressed a briefing at the UN Headquarters in New York and sought reconciliation with India, making a plea for talks and Intel sharing between the two neighbours.
The BRICS nations have expressed concern over the proliferation of trade-restrictive actions in the form of 'indiscriminate rising' of tariffs, particularly measures used as a means of 'coercion', cautioning that such practices risk marginalising the Global South countries.
Four out of five permanent members of the UN Security Council (UNSC) have supported India's candidature for a permanent seat in the top world body, the government told the Lok Sabha on Friday.
Pakistan had submitted the names of Angara Appaji and Gobinda Patnaik for designation under the 1267 Al Qaeda Sanctions Committee of the UN Security Council.
India has strongly criticized Pakistan at the UN Human Rights Council, accusing it of sponsoring terrorism and providing safe haven to terrorist networks. India's representative highlighted past terror attacks and questioned Pakistan's credibility.
'It is high time that the 'war on terror' is removed from our diplomatic toolbox.' 'Certainly, our parliamentarians have no role in it,' asserts Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
The two leaders reaffirmed that the United States and India 'will take concerted action against all terrorist groups, including groups proscribed by the UNSCR 1267 Sanctions Committee'.
First Secretary in the Permanent Mission of India to the UN called Pakistan a 'hub of terrorism'.
If elected, it would be India's eighth term on the UN Security Council and this two-year tenure will start in January 2021.
India, which assumed the rotating presidency of the UN Security Council on Thursday, hopes to reach out to other nations in garnering support for expansion of the world body's top decision-making arm besides seeking a comprehensive anti-piracy strategy to tackle the maritime menace.
The BRICS nations condemned the Pahalgam terror attack, advocated for a zero-tolerance approach to terrorism, and criticized rising tariffs during their summit in Rio de Janeiro. They also addressed global challenges and called for reforms in international institutions.
He added that there was a proposal from France and UK some time ago for some restrictions in the use of the right of veto.
Early this year the US along with the United Kingdom and France approached the United Nations's sanctions committee for the ban on Azhar.
"We have also assisted nationals from other countries, who approached us, in their return to their respective countries. And we will remain open to doing so in the coming days."
India welcomed the sanctions imposed by the UN Security Council against Pakistan-based Haqqani militant network and its chief of suicide operations and said the international community has to be united in its efforts to isolate such terror groups which threaten peace and security.
The UN team to visit Islamabad for an assessment of Pakistan's compliance with the world body's sanctions regime.
PM Modi went to New York this time not to engage in polemics, but to find solutions to global problems. He made some progress on several matters, even on reform of the UN Security Council, when the US made a major concession for the first time that six permanent members without veto, including India, could be considered
The diplomat spoke on condition of anonymity to give a sense of the feeling of other members of the Security Council after China blocked the move to designate Azhar a global terrorist. Beijing previously put a technical hold on similar proposals at the UNSC thrice.
