NEW YORK: India assumed the rotating presidency of the Security Council for the month of December on Thursday, the month New Delhi will also complete its two-year term as a non-permanent member of the 15-nation United Nations body.
It is the second time India has held the chair, which rotates on a monthly basis in alphabetical order. In August last year, the then-Indian ambassador to the body, T. S. Tirumurti, was reported having misused his powers as president to deny Pakistan its right to participate in a debate to discuss the evolving situation in Afghanistan in the midst of the withdrawal of American troops from the war-torn country.
Ambassador Munir Akram, reacting sharply to the move, said: “India’s partisan and obstructionist action is a manifestation of its hatred for Pakistan.”
At a press conference to outline the programme of work for the month, Ruchira Kamboj, India’s current permanent representative to the United Nations, said her country will host “signature events” on countering terrorism and renewed orientation for reformed multilateralism.
She said S. Jaishankar, foreign minister of India, will travel to New York to preside over the debates in the third week of December.
In her remarks to reporters, Kamboj highlighted India’s “democratic credential” and its role as a “bridge builder” in international affairs, but appeared irritated when a journalist questioned about the decline in democracy and press freedom under the far-right government of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
“We don’t need to be told what to do on democracy,” she retorted.
In India, she claimed, democracy had roots going back 2,500 years. “Coming down to very recent times, we have all the pillars of democracy that are intact — legislature, executive, judiciary and the fourth estate, the press. And a very vibrant social media. So the country is the world’s largest democracy.”
“Every five years we conduct the world’s largest democratic exercise,” she said.
“Everyone is free to say as they wish and please and that is how our country functions. It’s rapidly reforming, transforming and changing. And the trajectory has been very impressive. And I don’t have to say this, you don’t have to listen to me. Others are saying this,” Kamboj added.
