India should not give up quest for permanent SC membership:Tharoor

Kochi, Dec 20 (UNI) While not giving up its quest for a permanent membership of the UN Security Council, India should realise that the threshold of amending the present charter is very high, UN Under Secretary-General Shashi Tharoor said today.

Talking to mediapersons on the sidelines of an interaction here with the students of Adi Shankara institutions, Kalady, Mr Tharoor said that UN Secretary General Kofi Annan had suggested certain other options for exploration.

''Of course, ultimately it is for India to decide,'' he added.

Earlier, in his almost hour-long interaction with the students, Mr Tharoor said that the permanent five members of the Security Council were sticking on in the UN because their veto-wielding power preserved their fundamental national interests.

Stating that it was very difficult to amend the original charter of the UN, Mr Tharoor said any amendment needed to be passed by a two-third majority in the General Assembly and also by two-thirds of parliaments in the world.

Denying that there was any ganging-up of the Western countries against his candidature for the UN Secretary General, Mr Tharoor noted that he had got ten out of the 15 votes and ended up in the second place, ahead of other candidates from the Western countries.

This showed that the voting was not on the regional lines, he said.

Interpreting the voting as more pro-Ban-Ki-Moon than anti-Tharoor, the under secretary-general said that he did not think that his nationality or message were not well received.

On the role being played by the UN in several conflict zones, including Sri Lanka, Mr Tharoor said while the UN was involved in providing humanitarian relief in the island nation, it was not involved in the peace making process and had not committed any troops to the ground.

This was mainly because both the Sri Lankan government and the rebel LTTE group were more comfortable with the Norwegian peace making effort.

''We can intervene only if both sides ask us to. However, the UN claims no monopoly on resolving conflicts. Even India is supportive of the Norwegian peace initiative. If this can bring about peace, we would be happy,'' he added.

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