India calls for reform of the UN

Singh - the UN needs to be a 'truly representative body'

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has called for urgent reform of the United Nations Security Council to make it a more effective global voice.

"What is missing is our sustained commitment to the democratisation of the United Nations," he told the UN's general assembly in New York.

He called on countries like India to become permanent Council members.

Mr Singh also reaffirmed India's commitment to continue peace talks with rival Pakistan.

'Democracy deficit'

This was Mr Singh's first address to the UN since becoming prime minister in May.

Networks of terror co-operate more among themselves than the democratic countries they target Manmohan Singh

Much of his address focused on the need for greater international co-operation to fight problems such as terrorism, poverty and disease.

But he also singled out what he called the "democracy deficit" on the Security Council, which has five permanent members - the US, Russia, China, the UK and France - each of which can veto UN resolutions.

This power structure, he said, "prevents multilateralism on a global consensus".

Britain, France and Russia have supported India's efforts to gain a permanent seat on the Security Council.

The US and China have not formally stated their positions.

"The inclusion of countries like India would be a first step in the process of making the United Nations a truly representative body," Mr Singh said.

He also called for greater co-ordination to fight terror around the world.

"It is a sad reality that networks of terror co-operate more among themselves than the democratic countries they target," he said.

Pakistan's satisfaction

Mr Singh also reaffirmed India's "determination to carry forward" peace talks with nuclear rival Pakistan to resolve their long-standing differences.

Mr Singh and Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf are to meet on Friday on the sidelines of the UN meeting.

The BBC's Urdu service correspondent in New York, Shahzeb Jillani, says there was much satisfaction on the Pakistani side with Mr Singh's speech.

In contrast to previous UN addresses by Indian leaders, Mr Singh refrained from bringing up India's concerns on issues such as cross-border terrorism or the alleged infiltration of militants into Indian-controlled Kashmir.

'Moment for peace'

President Musharraf told the UN General Assembly on Wednesday that Pakistan was committed to solving its dispute with India over Kashmir.

Musharraf hopes for a good relationship with Singh

He said he would tell India's premier in talks on Friday: "This is the moment for peace. We must not let it slip."

Our correspondent says that General Musharraf's UN speech this year was unusual and a clear departure from Pakistan's annual diplomatic offensive against India over Kashmir.

For the first time in decades, direct attacks on India over human rights abuses in Kashmir and India's alleged strong-arm tactics to "suppress the just struggle for Kashmiri self determination" were conspicuously absent from the general's speech.

Improving relations

Mr Singh told The Wall Street Journal newspaper that his meeting with General Musharraf would be "an essay in mutual comprehension".

He said he was interested in hearing from the Pakistani leader "what opportunities he has in mind" for improving relations.

"I am very sincere in... the desire to normalise relations with Pakistan," Mr Singh said.

India accuses Pakistan of sponsoring an Islamic uprising in its part of Kashmir. Pakistan says it only lends diplomatic backing to an indigenous insurgency against Indian rule.

The two nuclear-armed neighbours have gone to war three times - twice over the disputed region of Kashmir.