India slams China, Pakistan for double standards on terrorism at UNSC meet

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New Delhi: India on Tuesday hit out China, Pakistan at the United Nations Security Council meet on terrorism, calling out both on several counts from "double standards" to "hypocrisy" over the issue. Pointing out to the "practice of placing holds and blocks on listing requests without giving any justification", India's Ambassador to UN, Ruchira Kamboj, said, "It is most regrettable that genuine and evidence-based listing proposals pertaining to some of the most notorious terrorists in the world are being placed on hold." 

Earlier this year, China had put a hold on the UN listing of Pakistan based Lashkar-e-Tayyiba's 2nd command Abdul Rehman Makki. China has put a technical hold on Makki that will last for six months. In the past too, Beijing had put a hold on listing of Maulana Masood Azhar of Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) and it took a decade for New Delhi to list him as a UN listed terrorist.

Ambassador Ruchira explained that "double standards and continuing politicization have rendered the credibility of Sanctions Regime at an all-time low. We do hope that all members of the UNSC can pronounce together in one voice, sooner than later, when it comes to this collective fight against international terrorism." Important to note, that the meeting on the issue of terrorism comes under the month-long presidency of China of the UNSC.

On Pakistan, the Ambassador pointed to the "state hospitality" for terrorist in a "neighboring country despite being listed under the UNSC 1267 Sanctions Committee." UN's 1267 committee lists one of the largest numbers of Pakistanis as international terrorists. These include Masood Azhar, Hafiz Saeed, Zaki ur Rehman Lakhvi, many of whom responsible for terror attacks in India, including the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack. Islamabad has gone to UNSC for getting allowances for many of them. She asked the international community to call out "such hypocrisy.. when the threat of terrorism looms large in each of our countries."

During her address, the Ambassador announced that India will be hosting a special session of UN's counter terror committee in Mumbai and Delhi on 28th and 29th October which will highlight the nature of the "threat, member states’ capacity gaps and best practices and exploring further course of action to effectively deal with this threat." India is the chair of the Counter-Terrorism Committee.

During the address, she also mentioned the recent attacks on Gurudwara in Kabul, calling it "highly alarming". The multiple attacks on Sikhs, and Gurudwaras in Afghanistan has led to exodus of the minority community as many arrive in India seeking refuge. The Ambassador emphasized that "The linkages between groups listed by the UNSC such as the Lashkar-e-Tayyaba and the Jaish-e-Mohammed as well as provocative statements made by other terrorist groups operating out of Afghanistan pose a direct threat to the peace and stability of the region".

The Secretary General's report on threats posed by Islamic State received its criticism as well for "selective filtering" as India hoped that in "future iterations of SG’s reports, inputs from all member states would be treated on an equal footing". The report made no mention of several terror groups in the region "especially those that have been repeatedly targeting India."