ISLAMABAD, July 22 (AFP) - German Foreign Minister and Vice Chancellor Joschka Fischer Thursday played down his support for India's bid for a permanent seat at the UN Security Council as he visited its rival neighbour Pakistan.
President Pervez Musharraf told Fischer during talks that ran an hour and a a half that he was "concerned" about India winning a permanent seat.
"President Musharraf said 'We respect Germany,' but he noted his concerns about India getting a permanent seat," a German diplomat told reporters after their talks.
In New Delhi last week Fischer declared German support for India to take a permanent seat in return for New Delhi's support of Germany's own bid, under proposed reforms to make the body more "multilateral."
Germany currently holds one of 10 rotating seats but like India is lobbying for a place with the five permanent members in reforms demanded by some states which would expand the 14-member council to 24 or 26 nations and regional bodies.
The prospect of India taking a permanent seat riles its traditional foe Pakistan, which accuses it of violating Security Council resolutions dating back to 1948 on Kashmir.
Fischer said Germany's backing of India was not aimed against "a third party" and acknowledged there were "conflicting interests" within Asian countries over who should hold a permanent seat.
"I know there are conflicting interests, not only in the Asian group but also in some other groups especially in the Western groups we belong to, and we try to support reform and cooperate," Fischer told a press conference after meeting his Pakistani counterpart Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri.
"This is not directed against any third party and for us it is crucial that we are friends to both sides, Pakistan and India.
"We understand this tragic conflict between your two countries and hopefully there will be progress in settling these long-term issues.
"On the other side we need to progress in the reform of the UN system and we are working very hard for it."
Both India and Pakistan claim the Muslim-majority Himalayan region of Kashmir, but it has been divided between them since 1948, the year after Pakistan was created out of northwest India for South Asia's Muslims following independence from Britain.
The Security Council resolutions demand a plebiscite among Kashmiris to choose between rule by India or Pakistan.
India has never acceded to the demand and now says they are out of date. New Delhi considers the half of Kashmir it administers an "integral part" of India.
The dispute has caused over five decades of hostility between the South Asian giants and brought them to war twice. They nearly plunged into war in 2002 again over Kashmir.
Fischer is in Pakistan for two days on the last leg of a five nation tour that has also taken him to Bangladesh, China, and Sri Lanka.