For General Pervez Musharraf, Pakistan’s election as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council for 2003-04 may be useful in terms of projecting a positive spin domestically. After all, elections are due in Pakistan on October 10 and the general’s own credibility is at its lowest ebb since he took over power three years ago in an army coup. But surely the professionals in Pakistan’s foreign office know the UN better than to argue that this would open up new opportunities to solve the Kashmir issue in accordance with Pakistan’s wishes. It is questionable how much influence would accrue to Islamabad with a temporary seat on the Security Council in an age when the UN itself is struggling hard against being marginalised due to the policies of unilateralism adopted by the powerful states, as appears so imminent in the case of a war against Iraq.Pakistan was last elected to serve in a similar position in 1993-94. During that period, cross-border terrorism was at its peak and pressures on India were acute. Our economy was still recovering from the crisis of 1990-91. The US had piled on massive non-proliferation pressures from every possible angle. The Soviet Union had disintegrated and Yeltsin’s Russia was neither willing nor able to stand up for its erstwhile friends. Pressures over human rights issues were acute, to say the least, and only China and Iran stood by India. The minority government in New Delhi was seen to be weak from every possible point of view. But Islamabad could do nothing to push its pet thesis at the UN.Islamabad also tends to ignore the reality that even as a non-permanent member, it would have to ensure that — while the global war against terrorism is on — it honours UN resolution 1373 and stops any assistance to terrorism in its territories. Few in the world today are willing to believe in the myth of ‘freedom struggle’ used to cover jehadi terrorism that has been responsible for the death of tens of thousands of innocent Kashmiris. The seat at the Security Council would, in fact, test its bonafides in the issue of the US war against Iraq which it hopes would somehow be resolved before it actually occupies the chair in January next.
