• Asim Iftikhar says Islamabad backs more elected seats on UNSC
• Foreign secretary-designate highlights country’s role in peaceful dispute settlement
• Notes Islamabad presses for peaceful settlement of Kashmir dispute

WASHINGTON: Pakistan opposes adding new permanent members to the UN Security Council and instead favours increasing the number of elected, non-permanent members of the 15-member body, Pakistan’s UN envoy Ambassador Asim Iftikhar Ahmad, who is set to take charge as the country’s new foreign secretary next week, told Dawn.

Assessing Pakistan’s stint on the Security Council, from 2025 to 2026, he discussed the major international crises and diplomatic initiatives that marked his tenure. Mr Ahmad is returning to Islamabad after serving as Pakistan’s permanent representative to the UN and will take charge as the new foreign secretary.

“Developments in recent years in the peace and security landscape and within the Security Council, as well as increased criticism of the role of the permanent members, have further reinforced the belief of a wide majority of member states that we need a more democratic, representative and accountable Security Council,” he said.

“Adding any new individual permanent members would only aggravate the problem. In simple words, the problem cannot be the solution.”

Pakistan, he said, had advocated, along with members of the Uniting for Consensus group and other like-minded countries, a reformed Council with more elected members, including medium-term seats based on periodic elections and rotation.

“Pakistan and many other countries are eminently qualified to bring their contribution to the Security Council and the maintenance of international peace and security,” Mr Ahmad said. “Member states should be ready to fulfil that responsibility without permanence and privilege.”

Pakistan’s 2025-26 term was its eighth tenure on the Security Council. For Mr Ahmad personally, it was his third consecutive Council assignment, having previously served on Pakistan’s teams in 2003-04 and 2012-13.

“It is such a great and singular honour to have the opportunity to represent Pakistan at the United Nations including at the Security Council,” he said.

He said Pakistan entered its latest Council term with considerable diplomatic and institutional experience and had identified conflict prevention and peaceful settlement of disputes, peacekeeping, counterterrorism and cooperation with regional organisations as key priorities.

“We were able to achieve a lot in all of those domains,” he said.

The term, however, unfolded against a backdrop of deep geopolitical tensions, including a sharp deterioration in relations between India and Pakistan that culminated in a four-day military confrontation in May 2025, bringing the two nuclear-armed neighbours dangerously close to a wider conflict.

Mr Ahmad said the crisis also reinforced Pakistan’s emphasis on peaceful settlement of disputes and highlighted the importance of diplomacy in preventing conflicts from escalating.

He pointed to Security Council Resolution 2788, adopted unanimously during Pakistan’s presidency of the Council in July 2025, as one of the major achievements of the country’s term.

The Pakistan-sponsored resolution placed renewed emphasis on the mechanisms provided by the UN Charter for the peaceful settlement of international disputes.

Despite what Mr Ahmad described as a “polarised Council”, Pakistan was able to forge consensus around the resolution.

“This landmark resolution has been the most widely referred Council decision ever since its adoption, something that testifies to its importance and relevance to Council’s work,” he said.

“It is also worth recalling that Pakistan initiated and steered this resolution that lays emphasis on peaceful resolution of disputes, having inflicted a crushing defeat to the Indian aggression in May 2025,” he said.

Mr Ahmad also highlighted what he described as Pakistan’s practical contribution to peaceful dispute settlement beyond the Security Council.

He said Pakistan had played an important role in mediating between the United States and Iran, helping bring about a ceasefire in April, facilitating the Islamabad talks and contributing to the process that led to the signing of the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding in June.

“Our leadership remains closely engaged with all sides and other friends and partners to advance the prospects of peace,” he said.

On Palestine, Mr Ahmad said Pakistan had remained a “forceful voice” in the Council and played a key role in supporting the Comprehensive Plan on Gaza and Security Council Resolution 2803.

The measures, he said, helped bring about a ceasefire, opened humanitarian space in Gaza and, importantly, restored a political horizon for Palestinian self-determination and statehood.

Pakistan also used several Arria Formula meetings of the Security Council to focus attention on the unresolved Jammu and Kashmir dispute and the need for its peaceful settlement in accordance with international legitimacy and relevant Security Council resolutions.

Published in Dawn, October 6th, 2026