India can’t get UN seat without China backing: envoy

ISLAMABAD - Pakistan’s permanent envoy to the UN, Abdullah Hussain Haroon, Sunday said India will never be able to secure a permanent seat at the UN Security Council unless China and Russia back it.

“Without veto power, India will not be of any threat to Pakistan even if it manages to enter UNSC as a permanent member,” Haroon told reporters at Hyderabad in Sindh province.

US President Barack Obama’s support to India’s right to get a UN Security Council seat has not gone down well in Pakistan.

Many Pakistanis feel that India would ride roughshod over Islamabad if it got veto rights — like the other five permanent Security Council members.

Haroon called for “judicious use of resources” to achieve financial stability in Pakistan, cautioning that China and India were the emerging powers in the region who would control and influence the decision-making processes in future.

The envoy said he had almost completed his stint in the UN and was not interested in continuing in the post. “I have written to the president that I want to return to Pakistan.”

(Awais Saleem can be contacted at ians.pakistan@gmail.com)