Shashi Tharoor

New Delhi: Unfazed by Pakistan's move to vie for the U.N. Secretary-General's post, India's nominee Shashi Tharoor said on Sunday he would "welcome any qualified candidate" from that country or anywhere else as "merit" rather than passport will be the main qualification.

He also dismissed the Pakistani contention that there was no tradition of a large country fielding its candidate for the post of Secretary-General or any country seeking both the top post of the world body and permanent membership of the Security Council.

"Not at all. On the contrary, the world deserves as broad a choice as possible," Mr. Tharoor, U.N. Under Secretary-General for Communication and Public Information, told PTI. He was asked whether Pakistan's move could spoil his chances.

"I welcome any qualified candidate and hope there will be many more, from Pakistan or anywhere else," he said. He is to hold talks with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and senior External Affairs Ministry officials during his three-day visit to formulate the "next steps" towards ensuring his win.

The 50-year-old noted author underlined that each of the candidates, including himself, "will have to stand on our own merits and ... own credentials..."

Tradition of respect

On the contention of Pakistan's Permanent Envoy to the U.N., Munir Akram, that no country seeks the Secretary-General's post as well as permanent membership of the Security Council, Mr. Tharoor said these two issues were "completely unconnected." "The Secretary Generalship is about running the organisation. If I am elected, I would be accountable to 191 countries, not to any one (country)."

He emphasised that the Indian Government has had a "long tradition of respect for the independence of the international civil service, very much along the lines of India's respect for the neutrality of bureaucracy at home where Indian civil servants are not expected to have any commitments to any particular political party and rather to the Constitution of India.

``First of all, I do not see a particular problem with regard to any national policy that India may pursue at the United Nations because India would do so bearing in mind its own national interest whereas I would be in a position to work for the collective interests of the United Nations," Mr. Tharoor said.

A History graduate from Delhi's St. Stephen's College, Mr. Tharoor faces contest from at least three Asian contenders.

On Pakistan's claim that no big country fields its candidate for the top U.N. post, Mr. Tharoor said, "Let us not forget that we have already had a Secretary-General from Egypt."

He sounded confident on getting support to his candidature from the five permanent members of the Security Council, including China, about whose backing doubts are being expressed in certain quarters here.

"It would not be appropriate for any candidate to characterise views of any government but his own. So, I am not going to characterise views of China or any other country. They will have to do so for themselves," he said when asked about the possibility of Beijing's support.

He, however, underlined that the Indian Government "has not taken this decision (to nominate him) without taking into account the views of various governments."

Mr. Tharoor was named by India as its candidate with an assertion that the next Secretary-General should be from Asia as per the principle of rotation.

On the prospects of support from the U.S., which on Saturday gave a guarded response to his candidature, Mr. Tharoor said the question would be better answered by Washington. "But you can be assured that whatever needs to be done to lay out our credentials before the world, we are doing it. I am personally doing it and the Government is also doing it," he added.

On how he will manage campaigning considering his pre-occupation as the Under Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information, he says he will take leave.

"I have accrued far more leave than I am able to use. I will just take more than I am used to taking," said Mr. Tharoor, who has served the U.N. in various capacities over the last several years. He said he had already held talks with the present Secretary-General Kofi Annan in regard to the issue.

Established convention

To a question, he said there is a long established convention that any country that holds a permanent seat in the Security Council with a veto power should not put up a candidate for the Secretary-General's post.

"The logic behind this is that no one country should have the possibility of both initiating action through the Secretary-General and stopping action through veto. That will give one country too much power," he said.

"As you are aware, India is not a permanent member of the Security Council and does not have a veto and, therefore, that unwritten convention would not apply to India," he said.

On his India visit, Mr. Tharoor said, "The idea is very much to renew contact with my home base." - PTI

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