Pakistan has added a new dimension to the debate on reforming the United Nations, calling for abolition of the provision for permanent members in the Security Council and their veto power. ''The permanent slots and the veto power were anachronistic to the principle of sovereign equality,'' Pakistan's ambassador to the United Nations Shamshad Ahmed said while addressing the Security Council on the question of equitable representation and increase in the membership of the body.

''Let there be no fortress of privilege and prerogative in the United Nations, which stands for democracy and human rights all over the world. In any case there is no room for new oligarchy in the UN system, neither in the name of economic power nor military power,'' he said criticizing the bids of Japan and India on this score. ''It is time to strengthen democratic values, inclusive of participatory character of this World Organisation. It is time to rectify and not accentuate the anomalies of the past," he said.
Bureau Report