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.
The UN Security Council has passed three resolutions to fortify Iraq's sovereignty, scrapping nuclear sanctions imposed during the Saddam Hussein reign and ending the controversial oil-for-food programme of the 1990s
The 193-member general assembly voted overwhelmingly on Wednesday to condemn Russia's "illegal so-called referendums in regions within the internationally recognised borders of Ukraine and the attempted illegal annexation of the Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk, and Zaporizhzhia regions of Ukraine, following the organisation of the above-mentioned referendums".
The UN team to visit Islamabad for an assessment of Pakistan's compliance with the world body's sanctions regime.
The Bush administration has expressed disappointment at the UN Security Council's response to the violence in Myanmar, saying it should have taken "stronger" action.
Condemning human rights violations and the excessive use of force by the Yemeni authorities against peaceful protesters in the country's eight-month uprising, the Security Council said all sides should quickly implement a regional plan for an orderly transition of power.
China on Tuesday called for a 'comprehensive and lasting ceasefire' between India and Pakistan, urging both countries to properly handle their differences through dialogue.
"The fight against impunity is critical to the larger pursuit of securing peace and justice. The Security Council must send an unambiguous and unequivocal message on this count," External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar told the 15-nation UN Security Council briefing on Ukraine 'Fight against impunity'.
After weeks of haggling, Monday's version of the resolution was the fourth presented by the United States and Britain.
National Security Adviser Ajit Doval on Tuesday called for shunning double standards in combating terrorism and urged members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) to hold accountable perpetrators, organisers and financers of cross-border terrorism, seen as reference to Pakistan.
The government will send seven all-party delegations to key partner countries, including members of the United Nations Security Council, later this month to convey India's message of zero tolerance against terrorism following the Pahalgam terror attack and Operation Sindoor.
The Taliban have announced they will close all national and foreign nongovernmental organisations (NGOs) employing women in Afghanistan.
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.
'No respite from economic pain is worth the loss of dignity and self-respect,' asserts former foreign secretary Shyam Saran.
The US move to align with Russia is prompted by fear of a Sino-Russian joint threat. Russia, fully aware of its military vulnerability vis a vis China may cautiously welcome the American move, assesses Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
Gaffes in the UN create some red faces and send a few chuckles around, but do not harm anyone as each country's position is known and the situation can easily be retrieved, says T P Sreenivasan.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has secured a 13-day custodial remand for Jawad Ahmed Siddiqui, chairperson of the Al Falah group, accused of generating over Rs 415 crore dishonestly from students. The ED claims Siddiqui has incentives to flee India as his family is settled in the Gulf.
Early this year the US along with the United Kingdom and France approached the United Nations's sanctions committee for the ban on Azhar.
The UN Security Council on Wednesday failed to adopt a Brazil-led draft resolution that would have called for humanitarian pauses in the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict to allow full access for aid to the Gaza strip after the US vetoed the text.
'Trump's desire to withdraw the US from some arenas on the global stage will result in ceding space to China.'
Minister in India's Permanent Mission to the UN, Srinivas Prasad, strongly rejected remarks made by Pakistan's envoy to the UN, Maleeha Lodhi, in which she had said that the non-implementation of UN Security Council resolutions for a plebiscite in Kashmir is the "most persistent" failure of the UN.
The race for the UN secretary-general for 2022-2027 is already over and another term for Antonio Guterres is a foregone conclusion, observes Ambassador T P Sreenivasan.
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.
China has put a hold on a proposal by the United States and India at the United Nations to blacklist Abdul Rauf Azhar, the brother of Jaish-e Mohammed (JEM) chief Masood Azhar and a senior leader of the Pakistan-based terror organisation.
'Congrats to our team @USUN for their work in negotiating JEM's Masood Azhar's #UN designation as a terrorist,' Pompeo tweeted.
The National Investigation Agency has arrested Jasir Bilal Wani in Srinagar, who was an "active co-conspirator" of suicide bomber Umar un Nabi, in connection with the car blast near the Red Fort last week that claimed 13 lives.
Hafiz Abdul Salam Bhuttavi, an United Nations-designated terrorist who trained the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) attackers for the 2008 Mumbai terror attack and acted as the outfit's chief on at least two occasions, died in a prison in Pakistan's Punjab province while serving a sentence for terror financing, his aide said on Wednesday.
Spokesperson in the Ministry of External Affairs Anurag Srivastava said India expects China to refrain from commenting on the country's internal affairs and respect its sovereignty and territorial integrity.
A UNSC designation will subject Azhar to an assets freeze, travel ban and an arms embargo.
The Russian embassy said in the spirit of the special and privileged strategic partnership with India, Moscow is committed to maintaining close dialogue with New Delhi on the situation around Ukraine.
The Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) is a functional commission of the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). The 54-member ECOSOC, holding the first plenary meeting of its 2021 session in the General Assembly Hall on Monday, held elections for two seats in the Asia-Pacific States category with Afghanistan, India and China in the fray.
The matter was expected to be discussed in the Security Council Consultations Room under "other matters" during closed consultations Tuesday afternoon.
Congress leader Salman Khurshid, who is a part of India's diplomatic mission abroad, on Monday said it is 'distressing' that people back home are calculating political allegiances and asked if it is 'so difficult to be patriotic'.
The three countries have indicated that they are willing to accommodate Chinese request for changes in the language as long as it does not change the substance of the resolution and it ends up designating Azhar as a UN global terrorist.
In a significant development, Jammu and Kashmir has been removed from the UN list of unresolved disputes, giving a setback to Pakistan which has been asking the world body to intervene on the issue.
An official of the Indian Foreign Service before joining the UN, Khare's appointment assumes significance as it comes ahead of next year's Presidential and Parliamentary elections in Timor.
'However, we must implement a tit-for-tat approach -- reciprocating their conduct with precision.' 'If they demonstrate respect, we respond accordingly. If they adopt hostile positions, we mirror that hostility with equal intensity.'
The UN Security Council has strongly condemned the suicide attack on Indian Embassy in Kabul in which 41 people, including four Indian nationals, were killed and expressed determination to root out the scourge of terrorism.
India believes "terrorism is a major issue for China. They know a number of terror groups are based in Pakistan", sources added.
