LONDON, Nov 4: Pakistan urged the Commonwealth on Tuesday to reinstate it as a full member and accused the 54-nation group of mostly former British colonies of changing the goal posts on membership criteria.

Foreign Minister Khurshid Kasuri, after talks with British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, said he believed Pakistan had met the Commonwealth’s requirements on the principles of democracy, human rights and the rule of law.

Pakistan was suspended after a military coup put President Pervez Musharraf in power in 1999.

“As far as I’m concerned, Pakistan has fulfilled the requirements of the Harare and Marlborough declarations,” Mr Kasuri said. The declarations enshrine the principles of human rights, democracy and the rule of law accepted by Commonwealth members.

The Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) takes place in Abuja, Nigeria, in December. Neither Pakistan nor Zimbabwe, which is also suspended, have been invited.

Mr Straw welcomed the steps Pakistan had taken on democracy and human rights but said a decision on whether they were sufficient lay with the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group.—Reuters