The international community should rise above political differences and defeat the challenge of terrorism, said External Affairs Minister Dr. S. Jaishankar on Friday at the Special Meeting of the Counter Terror Committee of the UN Security Council.
Paying homage to victims of the 26/11 terror strikes in Mumbai, Mr. Jaishankar reminded that the UNSC failed to proscribe some of the Pakistan-based organisations and individuals that were involved in the terror strikes in Mumbai.
“In another month, we will be observing the 14th anniversary of these ghastly attacks on Mumbai in November 2008. While one of the terrorists was captured alive, prosecuted and convicted, the key conspirators and planners of the 26/11 attacks continue to remain protected and unpunished. When it comes to proscribing some of these terrorists, the Security Council has regrettably been unable to act in some cases because of political considerations,” said Mr. Jaishankar.
He avoided a direct mention of the repeated obstruction and technical holds that China has placed on India’s recent campaign for black listing of multiple terror masterminds based out of Pakistan.
Mr. Jaishankar mentioned five points for the consideration of the Counter Terror Committee at the event. He listed “effective and sustained efforts to counter terror-financing; normative efforts of the UN need to be coordinated with collaborations with other fora like the Financial Action Task Force (FATF); to make sure that the Security Council’s sanctions regime is not rendered ineffective because of political reasons; international cooperation and concerted actions against terrorists and their sponsors including the dismantlement of terrorist safe havens, etc. are critical imperatives; terrorism’s nexus with a transnational organised crime like arms and illicit drug trafficking is now established”.
Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Friday protested against the comments regarding “cross border” terrorism that India raised at the UN CTC in Mumbai.
“Contrary to Indian claims, it is India that has remained non-cooperative with Pakistan and has deliberately held back judicial proceedings of the Mumbai attack case,” the official statement from Pakistan declared.
