India still hopeful on UN vetoAdd to Clippings

NEW DELHI: Unfazed by the views expressed by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, India asserted that the debate on the issue of veto for new Security Council members was still open and that a decision on the matter will not be taken by the Security Council but the General Assembly.
External Affairs Minister K Natwar Singh maintained that India would demand veto power if it gets the permanent seat in the Security Council and said special envoys were being despatched to all the 192 UN member countries to garner support in this regard.
"There are many views on this (veto issue)," he told reporters here when asked to comment on Annan's statement asking India and other UN Security Council aspirants not to press for veto as Permanent Five were not in favour of this.