Haroon offers to take drone issue at UN

Talking to media at the Karachi airport on Saturday morning, Pakistans Ambassador to the UN Abdullah Hussain Haroon said that he could take up the issue of US drone attacks in Pakistan at the United Nations if the government authorised him to do so.Commenting on Pakistan’s bid to become a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council, Haroon appreciated India’s role in this regard.While commending Idia’s role Abdullah Hussain Haroon said, Many of the countries that Pakistan had considered as friends were no longer friends of the country. But India supported us in becoming a non-permanent member of the 15-member Security Council and played a major role,I think we should not be discouraged by the reaction by some of the nations in the UN because I can say the world wants Pakistan to play a positive role in the global scenario, he said.Haroon said that Pakistan was committed towards multilateralism and promoting the principles and purposes enshrined in the UN Charter.Pakistan, which was challenged by Kyrgyzstan, was backed by 129 of the 193 member states in the General Assembly. Kyrgyzstan secured 55 votes.Haroon said that Pakistan had worked very hard in the past six months to win votes for the prestigious post.The country will replace Lebanon, which currently occupies the Asian seat, on January 1, 2012, to begin a two-year term. Pakistan has been on the council six times earlier - 1952-53, 1968-69, 1976-77, 1983-84, 1993-94 and 2003-04. It will be the seventh time that Pakistan would be on the council, and the fourth time its term would overlap with India.Both the South Asian neighbours have shared terms on the Security Council in 1968, 1977 and 1984.The Security Council has five veto-holding permanent members - the United States, Britain, France, Russia and China - and 10 temporary elected members without vetoes.