Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has made a strong case for urgent reform of the UN Security Council to reflect current political realities by including more developing countries as both permanent and non-permanent members.
Addressing the UN General Assembly, he also said multilateral financial institutions should give developing countries an enhanced voice in their decision-making structures. He said, multilateral efforts must guide the quest for peace and security wherever they are threatened and the centrality and contribution of the UN system to development must be restored.
Dr. Singh said, growing scepticism about the UN's handling of peace and security issues underlined the necessity of reforms.
Turning to Pakistan, Prime Minister made it clear that there can never, ever be a compromise on the territorial integrity of India of which Jammu and Kashmir is an integral part.
In a hard-hitting speech, Dr. Singh asked Pakistan to shut down terrorist machinery on its soil. He reiterated that terrorism remains a grave threat to security and stability everywhere and extracts a heavy toll of innocent lives around the world.
He said state-sponsored cross-border terrorism is of particular concern to India, more so on account of the fact that the epicenter of terrorism in our region is located in our neighbourhood in Pakistan.
The 68th Session of UN General Assembly is being presided over by John .W. Ashe , former Ambassador of Antigua and Barbuda to the UN, and is based on the theme “Post -2015 Development Agenda”.
Addressing the delegates the Prime Minister pointed out that this theme is especially important as we deal with a lingering global economic slowdown and continuing volatility in financial markets. He pointed out that the problems of over a billion people living in abject poverty around the world need to be attacked more directly.
Expressing concern over the disturbances in West Asia, particularly in Syria , the Prime Minister said the increasingly lethal conflict in that country is not only a tragedy for the people of Syria, but also threatens stability and security in the region and beyond.The use of chemical weapons must be condemned in the strongest terms.
India supports strongly the elimination of chemical weapons material and equipment in Syria and believes that there must be a political solution to the problem. Dr. Manmohan Singh will hold his first meeting with Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sherif today where he is likely to ask him to rein in terror elements operating from
Pakistan's soil and unleashing violence in India.
This will be his first meeting with him after Nawaz Sherif returned to power winning the polls. Though expectations were high, Dr. Manmohan Singh himself had cautioned against it because of this week’s terrorist attack in Jammu and Kashmir.
