India in the UNSC

US President Barack Obama concluded his trip to India this week – also historic for the nuclear deal offered to the country – by declaring that the United Nations Security Council needed to be reformed for the 21th century and that as such he supported India’s campaign to secure itself a permanent seat on the Security Council. Obama was half right. The Security Council is an archaic relic of the post-World War era where countries like Britain and France could still be considered plausible powers. The only reason Germany and Japan aren’t permanent members is because they happened to lose the Second World War. That the world has changed since then is undeniable. The rise of Latin America, the Asian Tigers and even some countries in Africa needs to be recognised. There is less reason to support India’s bid. The interests of the region are already voiced by China which, even though it is a rival to India, at least ensures the Asian voice is heard. On top of that, what the rest of the world should be looking for is the abolishment of veto power altogether. It is a concept that explicitly says some countries are more important than others, either because they have greater economic and military power now or they had greater economic and military power back in 1945 when the UN was set up.
For Pakistan, where Sartaj Aziz has already voiced our disapproval of making India a permanent member of the Security Council, there is a principle to back up this position. India has been violating UN resolutions to hold a plebiscite on Kashmir for decades. The last thing the UN needs to be a stronger organisation is to hand more power to yet another country that considers UN General Assembly resolutions worthless unless they reaffirm its policies. A cursory look at the history of the UN shows how the US has consistently flouted its resolutions and even refused to pay its dues to organisations like Unicef and backed out of joining the International Criminal Court. The Soviet Union, too, used its veto power to protect its fiefdom in Eastern Europe, a trend modern Russia has continued. India, through its past actions, has shown it will not be any different when Kashmir or anything else it sees in its interests is up for a vote. Far better to reform the Security Council by allowing countries like Brazil to join which have demonstrated a commitment to a more egalitarian world.