President Barack Obama said Monday that America would support Security Council reforms that would include a permanent seat for India. -AFP Photo

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan's government criticized American support for India's attempts to get a permanent seat on the UN Security Council, saying Wednesday it was ''incomprehensible'' given New Delhi's policies toward the disputed Kashmir region.

Pakistan and India are regional rivals who have fought three wars since 1947, two over Kashmir.

Relations between the two nuclear-armed nations continue to be marked by distrust. Neither likes anything that increases the standing and power of the other.

President Barack Obama said Monday that America would support Security Council reforms that would include a permanent seat for India.

He made the remarks at the end of a three-day visit to India that confirmed its status as a rising global power, a sharp contrast to Pakistan's reputation as an unstable, militancy-wracked nation.

Pakistan's government expressed ''strong disappointment'' at Obama's support in a statement released after a Cabinet meeting.

''It is incomprehensible that the US has sought to support India, whose credentials with respect to observing UN Charter principles and international law are at best checkered,'' it said, alleging India was carrying out human rights violations in Kashmir and had ignored earlier UN resolutions on the region.

US support for New Delhi does not mean it will join the five permanent Security Council members anytime soon. For India to join, the council would have be radically reformed, something that could take years. -AP