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Pakistan hints at supporting Japan on U.N. seat

B. Muralidhar Reddy

ISLAMABAD: In a reversal of its earlier position, Pakistan has said it would "step back" and consider supporting Japan's bid for a permanent seat in the United Nations Security Council if Tokyo is ready to dissociate itself from the G-4 grouping that includes India.

"If the G-4 composition changes, we will review our position. Our relations with Japan are historic, Japan is our largest creditor, the single largest contributor to our debt," Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, who is on a visit to Japan, told the international media there on Wednesday.

"If that framework changes, we will step back and see what to do," he said in response to a specific question posed by a Japanese journalist. He was asked whether Pakistan would support Japan in its bid for a permanent seat on the Security Council if it left the G-4. However, he hastened to add that it was a hypothetical question and the "G-4 composition remained as it was."

At the same time, Mr. Aziz maintained that Pakistan had a principled stand on U.N. reforms and it favoured reforms to be broad-based, equitable and democratic that did not create new classes of members. Mr. Aziz argued that Pakistan's position was not country-specific, rather it was generic and based on principles.

Mr. Aziz said the reforms must be viewed holistically as the U.N. was a body which needed reforms and reinvention but reforms should not relate to the Security Council alone but the entire U.N. family.

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