UNITED NATIONS - Pakistan Monday called for limiting the work of the Security Council to the maintenance of international peace and security and strengthening the General Assembly's oversight role as efforts to bring about broadly acceptable reform of the 15-member council continue. "Strengthening the presence of the elected members through equitable regional representation and fair rotation will make the Council more accountable to the General Assembly and restore the balance between the two organs," Ambassador Abdullah Hussain Haroon told a closed-door session of the 192-member assembly on expanding the Security Council to make it more representative and more effective. "The growing interdependence between peace and development necessitates greater coordination and coherence among the principal organs in order to promote a more holistic response to global challenges," he said as the first phase of intergovernmental negotiations to restructure the council was completed. In his remarks during the debate on the 'Relationship between the Security Council and the General Assembly', Ambassador Haroon said, "The power of the Security Council must be regulated and subjected to the principles of the (UN) Charter, international law and justice". Elaborating on his stress for limiting the Council's work, he said its actions could be subjected to judicial review of the Hague-based International Court of Justice (ICJ). "To enhance credibility, there should also be a mechanism to review the implementation of decisions of the Security Council (and) employ its powers in a fair, objective and consistent manner which can stand legal and political scrutiny and accountability by the UN membership," he said. Despite the general agreement on enlarging the council, as part of the UN reform process, member states remain sharply divided over the details. In July 2005, the so-called Group of Four India, Germany, Japan and Brazil aspired to permanent seats without veto rights on a 25-member council, with six new permanent seats without veto power, including two for the African region, and four additional non-permanent seats. The Italy/Pakistan-led "Uniting for Consensus" (UfC) group opposed any expansion of the permanent members on the Security Council. It sought enlargement of the council to 25 seats, with 10 new non-permanent members who would be elected for two-year terms, with the possibility of immediate re-election. The African Union's called for the Council to be enlarged to 26 seats, one more permanent seat than the G-4 proposal. Its proposal for six new permanent seats was the same as the G-4's, except that it would give the new members veto power. "The best way of ensuring increased accountability of the Council is to strengthen the role and authority of the General Assembly in determining its representation in the composition of the Council on a continuous basis," the Pakistan envoy said. "National permanent membership, for all the reasons discussed earlier in these negotiations, is the exact opposite of this objective," Haroon said in a obvious reference to bid by India and its three partners for permanent membership on the council". Assessing the trends in the negotiating process, which began in February, Ambassador Haroon noted that the was a tendency and willingness towards seeking a negotiated solution - a genuine compromise between divergent positions that may break the deadlock and provide a feasible way forward. In this regard, he called for continued good will, patience and perseverance.