United Nations, Nov 12: India has taken strong objection to a Pakistani resolution seeking to involve UN Secretary-General in bilateral issues and calling for military balance between states in "regions of tension." Ostensibly, the resolution was moved to promote confidence-building measures (CBMs) between states but, as India pointed out, it distorted the meaning and accepted use of the term to bring in extraneous issues.
"CBMs cannot be a subterfuge to get a whole lot of non-parties to a dispute involved in the process," its representative V Varma, Director in Disarmament Division of the External Affairs Ministry, argued.
The resolution was adopted by a United Nations Committee by the lowest margin of the season by 64 votes to 47 with 38 member states in the 191-member panel abstaining. The remaining chose to absent themselves during the vote.
The United States, Britain, France and Germany were among the nations that opposed the resolution and Russia and Canada abstained. China and Bangladesh supported it while Sri Lanka opposed it and Nepal abstained.
Bureau Report