WASHINGTON, June 10: United States President George W. Bush has said that the dispute over the proposed expansion of the Security Council should not be allowed to delay UN reforms.

At a White House meeting with Foreign Minister Khurshid Kasuri on Thursday, President Bush emphasized the need to carry forward the peace process between Pakistan and India.

Sources told Dawn that Mr Bush focused on the Pakistan-India peace process and United Nations reforms.

Mr Bush told the Pakistani delegation that he was “amazed” at the rapid progress Pakistan and India had made since signing the peace agreement in January 2004.

He noted that unlike the Middle East, where the Israelis and the Palestinians still depended on the international community to help them out, Pakistan and India had started direct talks to resolve their differences, the sources said.

According to the sources, Mr Bush described this as the right approach and assured Pakistan and India that his administration was ready to provide any assistance it was asked for to encourage the peace process.

He told the delegation that instead of allowing the dispute over the Security Council to hijack the reform process, the United Nations should try to develop “principles” for carrying forward the reforms, the sources said.

Mr Bush said he did not favour expanding the Security Council “in a hurry”.

Mr Kasuri told President Bush that UN reforms had been long overdue but the debate over who should sit on the Security Council had “hijacked” the debate. “Pakistan,” he declared, “is against the very idea of permanence.”