Collective action on Pakistan-based terrorist groups will serve humankind well: India at UNSC

New Delhi: Highlighting how India has been a victim of terrorism sponsored from across the border, India speaking at United Nations Security Council (UNSC) on Friday said that collective action on Pakistan-based terrorist groups like Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) will "serve the humankind well."

In its statement at the top UN body, India said that "the success of collective action against the IS (Islamic State) serves as an example of how focused attention by the international community yields results. A similar focus on addressing threats posed by proscribed individuals and entities such as Dawood Ibrahim and his D-Company, the Lashkar-e-Taiba and the Jaish-e-Mohammad, will serve humankind well."

India's statement was issued at High-Level Open Debate of the UNSC on addressing the "Issue of Linkages between Terrorism and Organized Crime".

In the statement, pointing out how it had "experienced first-hand the cruel linkage between transnational organized crime and terrorism", India said, "D-Company, that used to smuggle gold and counterfeit currencies transformed into a terrorist entity overnight causing a series of bomb blasts in the city of Mumbai in 1993."

Putting the focus on Islamabad's role in supporting terrorism in the region, the statement said, "The perpetrator of that incident (Mumbai 1993 attacks), unsurprisingly, continues to enjoy patronage in a neighbouring country, a hub for arms trafficking and narcotics trade, along with other terrorists and terrorist entities that have been proscribed by the United Nations." More than 250 people died in the attacks, causing damage worth millions.

India in the statement suggested "it is important to hold states accountable for activities that support or encourage terrorism from territories under their control" and the resolutions of the Security Council "make clear the primary responsibility of Member States in countering terrorist acts and in preventing and suppressing their financing".

This even as New Delhi in the past has raised how Pakistan has been violating UN sanctions on terror groups, who freely roam in the country. The statement also mentioned Financial Action Task Force (FATF) calling its recommendations to be implemented to strengthen "capabilities of the governance structure of financial and economic assets ...to counter the menace" of terrorism.