NEW YORK: Reiterating its firm opposition to expanding the United Nations Security Council’s permanent members, Pakistan has questioned how adding new permanent seats to the 15-member body could enhance its representativeness and effectiveness.

Speaking in the Intergovernmental Negotiations on Security Council Reform, Pakistan’s Permanent to the United Nations Maleeha Lodhi said no cogent answer has ever been given to how the move would make the Security Council more representative.

Adding new permanent members would in fact have the opposite effect, the Pakistani envoy said.

Calling for comprehensive reform of the Security Council, Ambassador Lodhi warned against a piecemeal approach and argued that the negotiating process must be member-state driven, aimed at achieving the widest possible political acceptance.

Reform, she stressed, must also be based on principles of democracy, transparency and accountability.

Pointing to the role of non-permanent members in the Security Council in bringing about a gradual improvement in its working methods, Ambassador Lodhi made the case that an increase in such members would further improve the functioning of the council.