UN
Race
Pits Pakistan
Versus Kyrgyz,
Brotherly
Muslims With
US in Wings
By
Matthew
Russell Lee,
Exclusive
UNITED
NATIONS,
September 29
-- As
relations
between
Pakistan and
the US
grow more
tense, at the
UN Kyrgyzstan
is
aggressively
campaigning
for
the October 21
election for
the Security
Council seat
most had
assumed would
be won by
Pakistan.
Source
describe to
Inner City
Press heavy
lobbying by
the Kyrgyz
head of state
Rosa
Otunbayeva, a
former UN
staff member,
on the margins
of the General
Debate. But
several
current
members of the
Council said
that it
would and
should be
Pakistan.
"With
India
on," one
Deputy
Permanent
Representative
told Inner
City Press,
"it would send
the wrong
message to
keep Pakistan
off."
On
September 29,
Inner City
Press asked
Pakistani
Permanent
Representative
Abdullah
Hussain Haroon
about the push
by Kyrgyzstan.
"It's
a
brotherly
Muslim
nation,"
Haroon
replied. "We
love them, we
respect them.
But we feel
this is a
moment in
history when
we feel we
have to be
here" on the
Council.
"The
good
thing," he
continued, "is
I'll be here
everyday, you
can
ask me things
every day,
I'll be
responsive."
Turning
to vote
counts, Haroon
said, "We have
a very large
phalanx of
commitments,
it's way
beyond the
needed
number."
A
member state
lobbied "hard"
by the Kyrgyz
told Inner
City Press
that in
light of their
run for a
Council seat
in the next
decade, they
are
trading notes
verbales now,
commitment for
commitment.
But it is a
secret ballot:
will
Pakistan's
vote count
hold up?
India's
Hardeep Singh
Puri, Ban
Ki-moon &
Haroon, Kyrgyz
& Azeris
not shown
Inner
City Press
said,
referring to
Pakistan's
dispute with
the US about
the Haqqani
network, that
the Kyrgyz
"saw an
opportunity."
"It's
not an
opportunity,"
Haroon cut in.
"We will
resolve
whatever we
have to
resolve. We
are here for
diplomacy, not
confrontation."
They he took
the stairs
from the
subterranean
world of
Security
Council up to
street level.
The
election is
set
for October
21. Other
contested
seats
including
Hungary versus
Slovenia or Azerbaijan
to replace
Bosnia, and to
replace
Nigeria,
Council
president
for October,
Morocco versus
Mauritania,
which has the
African Union
endorsement.
Click here
for more.
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