Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Friday accused the United States of killing people in "large numbers and in organised ways" in Afghanistan, Iraq and Pakistan and also blamed the UNSC for the crisis in the Middle East.
President A P J Abdul on Friday made a strong pitch for India getting a permanent membership of an enlarged United Nations Security Council.
In his hard-hitting maiden address to an informal session of the 192-member Assembly on reform of the 15-member Council, Indian ambassador Hardeep Singh Puri lambasted a 'small group' of countries for trying to derail the process by insisting that expansion be limited to non-permanent category.
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'.
Former Assistant Secretary of State for South Asian Affairs, Karl F Inderfurth, has told the US Congress that Washington should publicly support India's bid for a permanent seat in the UN Security Council, arguing that the India's case has never been stronger.
The United Nations Security Council's sanctions committee has not received any petition from Pakistan-based Jamaat-ud-Dawa, a front for Lashkar-e-Tayiba, to reconsider the decision declaring it as a terrorist group, a top official said on Thursday. Reports from Pakistan had said that the JUD is appealing the decision but Coordinator of Al Qaeda and Taliban Sanctions Monitoring Committee Richard Barrett said no such petition has been received.
The United Nations Security Council has unanimously voted to bring to an end the authorised international military action in Libya on October 31, following the death of Muammar Gaddafi that brought an end to the bloody conflict in the country. The resolution passed on Thursday said that the liberation of the North African country after Gaddafi's death offers better prospects for a "democratic, peaceful and prosperous future".
China will always try to set the agenda for negotiations and tries through such means to determine the direction of talks, and to avoid discussing subjects that may paint it into a corner or compel the Chinese negotiator to disclose their position prematurely.
The Pakistan government has blocked a resolution moved in the UN Security Council for imposing sanctions against former Inter-Services-Intelligence chief retired Lieutenant General Hamid Gul over his alleged links with al-Qaeda and Taliban, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said on Wednesday.
With regard to where relations between New Delhi and Beijing stand, the Union minister said that he does not have a definite answer to offer at "this moment".
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday made a powerful call for early reform and expansion of the United Nations Security Council "to reflect contemporary reality" and asked nations not to allow the global economic slowdown to trigger protectionism through various barriers.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said that Washington's move only complicates the issue.
To resist external pressure, it could use India's inherent assets and try and make democracy stronger by giving more space to human rights and minority rights, advises Aakar Patel.
India has always provided very strong support to minority communities in Afghanistan, particularly Sikhs and Hindus, and it is an important part of New Delhi's effort to evacuate those Afghan nationals who want to leave the war-ravaged country, Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla has said.
The United Nations members States have endorsed India's viewpoint that the General Assembly should begin the inter-governmental negotiations on expansion of the Security Council, with consensus emerging in favour of starting parleys by February next year. While all members agree that the Council should be expanded to reflect the current realities, a majority wants the expansion to take place in both categories and a minority subscribes to the UFC viewpoint.
As India assumes the month-long presidency of the United Nations Security Council, the international community has "very high expectations" from it, New Delhi's envoy to the United Nations, Hardeep Singh Puri said on Tuesday.
China has said that it has "no objection" to India's candidature for a permanent seat in the United Nations Security Council but was firmly opposed to Japan's bid for the same due to "historical baggage", according to Communist Party of India-Marxist leader Sitaram Yechury.
UN Security Council is witnessing an acrimonious wrangling over the action it should take on the Georgian conflict, after a fresh draft resolution introduced by Russia on the issue was promptly opposed by the United States.
China on Friday expressed shock at the deadly suicide attacks at Kabul airport, saying the security situation in Afghanistan remained "complicated and severe" and that Beijing will work with the international community to cope with terrorist threats and prevent the war-ravaged country from becoming a hotbed of terrorism.
The United States welcomes India as a rising power and backs its inclusion as a permanent member of a reformed and expanded United Nations Security Council, Secretary of State John Kerry has said ahead of his maiden visit to New Delhi.
The US hopes India will "reconsider" its decision to ban wheat exports, with Washington "encouraging" countries not to restrict exports as that will exacerbate food shortages, amidst Russia's invasion of Ukraine. India, the world's second-biggest wheat producer, has banned wheat exports in a bid to check high domestic prices amid concerns of wheat output being hit by scorching heat waves. The decision would help control retail prices of wheat and wheat flour, which have risen by an average 14-20 per cent in the last one year, besides meeting the foodgrain requirement of neighbouring and vulnerable countries.
India abstained on the procedural vote taken in the Security Council ahead of a meeting to discuss the tense situation on the Ukraine border.
Syed Firdaus Ashraf/Rediff.com presents the names of 10 global terrorists who, according to United Nations Security Council, are operating against India from Pakistan.
India found support in Africa in becoming a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council. During Dr Manmohan Singh's meet with the leaders of the African Union in Addis Ababa, the voice of Africa was unanimous in India bagging a permanent seat.
India on Thursday said Russia had not made any mediation offer to it to resolve Indo-Pak issues, and asserted that Moscow was "well aware" of New Delhi's position of bilateral resolution of all such matters in a terror-free environment.
India is expected to press for text-based negotiation during the current session of the United Nation General Assembly. Suman Guha Mozumder reports from New York
India, along with four other members of the United Nations Security Council, abstained from voting on a resolution that approves a no-fly zone over Libya and authorises "all necessary measures" for protecting civilians there from Colonel Muammar Gaddafi's forces. Ten of the 15-member body voted in favour of the resolution, but five nations -- China, Russia (which have veto power) and non-permanent members India, Germany and Brazil -- abstained from voting.
Pak rejected the world body's move as a "victory for India and validation of its stance" as projected by the Indian media.
India believes no country would emerge victorious in the Russia-Ukraine war as all will suffer losses and there will be a "more serious" impact on developing and poor countries, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Monday after holding talks with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz as both leaders reiterated the need for an immediate cessation of hostilities.
India and Britain have also agreed that the World Bank should be reformed to give it an environmental focus. They further agreed on improving the working of the International Monetary Fund and on giving the United Nations a greater role in its stability and reconstruction activities.
"China has been promoting peace and stability in this region. We hope that Pakistan and India will maintain friendly relations," he told a media briefing in Beijing.
Indian ambassador to the United Nations Hardeep Singh Puri has been elected Chairman of the all important Security Council Committee on Counter-terrorism and two other key committees of this 15-member body.
Lauding India's commitment to global peace and development of the South Asian region, a resolution introduced in the US House of Representatives has appealed to the United Nations to take necessary steps to make New Delhi a permanent member of the Security Council.
Peeved over America's strong backing for India's quest for a permanent United Nations Security Council berth, the Pakistan government on Wednesday slammed Washington over the move, claiming it would have "implications" for peace and stability in South Asia.
Taken by surprise by United States President Barack Obama's endorsement of India's bid to gain permanent membership of the United Nations Security Council, the Pakistan foreign office called in the US envoy to convey its concerns over the move.
The announcement by United States President Barack Obama that his administration endorses India's bid for a permanent seat at United Nations Security Council is more of 'symbolic' in nature and lacks 'substance,' American experts have said.
Pakistan said US President Barack Obama's endorsement of India's bid for permanent membership of the UN Security Council would add to the "complexity" of efforts to revamp the world body's most powerful organ.
United States Barack President Obama during his visit to India -- and preferably during his address to India's Parliament -- should do something big, like declaring 'forthrightly' Washington's support for India's bid for a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council, another report by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace has said.
