India on Friday pushed strongly for reformed multilateralism, saying reform of the United Nations is being blocked using a smokescreen of consensus and thereby denying the international community of its democratic rights. In his remarks while chairing the 18th Russia-India-China Foreign Ministers’ Meeting, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar also stressed that Afghan territory must not be used for terror activities by terrorist groups like the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Tayyiba, Jaish-e-Mohammad etc.

Addressing the meeting with Foreign Ministers Wang Yi and Sergey Lavrov of China and Russia respectively, both countries that are permanent members of the UN Security Council, Jaishankar said: “There is a crying need for reformed multilateralism. Defending the outcome of the Second World War does not mean freezing the world order at 1945 forever.

“UN reform is being blocked using a smokescreen of consensus as the only way forward. As a result, the international community is being denied its democratic rights,” he said, in tweets elaborating on what he spoke at the meeting. China has been holding out against India's efforts to become permanent member of the UNSC.

He said the RIC countries should coordinate respective approaches on the threats of terrorism, radicalization, drug trafficking etc, in another apparent reference to China which has repeatedly blocked at the UNSC India’s calls for designating Pakistan-based terror groups. At the same time Beijing has been concerned about the growing threats from Islamist groups in its eastern Xinjiang region and has been trying to enlist the help of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan to keep the East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM) under check.

He said that India, since joining the UN Security Council as a non-permanent member in January, has been actively contributing to finding mutually acceptable solutions to international and regional issues. “We believe that a multi-polar and re-balanced world based on the sovereign equality of nations and respect for international law and contemporary realities requires Reformed Multilateralism.” (SAM)