TOKYO, Feb 22: Pakistan's visiting Foreign Minister Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri voiced support on Tuesday for Japan's goal of a permanent seat on the UN Security Council but had reservations about the bid of India, a diplomat said.

Mr Kasuri held talks with Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi on the situation in Pakistan's neighbour Afghanistan and Japan's plans to resume yen loans to Islamabad among other issues, Pakistani ambassador to Japan Kamran Niaz said.

In a separate meeting, Mr Kasuri told Japan's main opposition leader Katsuya Okada that there should be "objective criteria" on choosing members of an enlarged UN Security Council.

"Japan would certainly qualify under whatever criteria. In the post-Second World War period Japan has been completely on the right side of all major issues," Mr Niaz told AFP, quoting discussions.

"Our reservation is that India would not fit under those criteria," he said. Mr Niaz said Pakistan objected to India's permanent membership due to its past wars with Pakistan and China and violation of the UN Security Council resolution calling for a plebiscite for disputed Kashmir.

Japan, India, Germany and Brazil have launched a joint bid to win permanent seats on the Security Council. Veto-wielding power is currently in the hands of five powers - Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States - in a system rewarding the winners of World War II.

Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf and Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi at a September meeting said there was no need to expand the number of permanent seats. Italy has cast anxious glances at Germany's bid.

Of the four Security Council aspirants, Japan is the most strongly backed by the United States. But its bid is criticized by China, which says Tokyo has not fully repented its World War II militarism. The ambassador said Mr Kasuri expressed gratitude to Mr Koizumi for Japan's 60 years of economic assistance and invited him to visit Pakistan.

Kyodo News reported on Saturday that Mr Koizumi was considering visiting India and Pakistan along with Luxembourg and the Netherlands from late April to early May. Japan has agreed in principle to resume yen loans to Pakistan. -AFP