Highlighting China’s stranglehold on the Security Council sanctioning Pakistan-based terrorists, Jaishankar denounced the politics giving them impunity…reports Asian Lite News
Highlighting China’s stranglehold on the Security Council sanctioning Pakistan-based terrorists, India’s External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar on Thursday denounced the politics giving them impunity.
“Politics should never provide cover to evade accountability. Nor indeed to facilitate impunity,” he said when the Security Council met on impunity for the crimes in Ukraine.
“Regrettably, we have seen this of late in this very Chamber, when it comes to sanctioning some of the world’s most dreaded terrorists”, he said alluding to China blocking sanctions against Pakistan-based terrorists Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) leader Sajid Mir, involved in the 2008 Mumbai attack, Jaish-e Mohammed (JEM) leader Abdul Rauf Azhar, and Jamaat-ud-Dawah (JuD) leader Abdul Rehman Makki.
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“If egregious attacks committed in broad daylight are left unpunished, this Council must reflect on the signals we are sending on impunity. There must be consistency if we are to ensure credibility”, he said alluding to the Pakistan-based terrorists escaping sanctions with China’s support.
Jaishankar did not name China, Pakistan or the terrorists.
Speaking at another forum, Sanjay Verma, Secretary, West in the External Affairs Ministry, called for justice for victims of terrorism.
At the Ministerial Meeting of Groups of Friends of Victims of Terrorism, Verma asked the international community to uphold the right to justice for the victims of cross-border terrorist attacks including 26/11 Mumbai attacks, by bringing the perpetrators to justice.
On the topic of Ukraine under direct discussion at the Security Council, Jaishankar said: “Even in conflict situations, there can be no justification for violation of human rights or of international law (and) where any such acts occur, it is imperative that they are investigated in an objective and independent manner.”
He said that India backed independent investigations into the killings in Bucha, a city in Ukraine where more than 400 bodies were found in April after Russian troops withdrew from there.
China blocks action against Pak-based terrorist
Meanwhile, China has again blocked action in UN Sanctions Committee against Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) leader and 26/11 Mumbai attacks accused Sajid Mir, drawing strong criticism from India.
China’s move to stymie the proposal, tabled by the US and co-sponsored by India, in the UN Security Council’s 1267 Committee for subjecting Mir to an assets freeze, travel ban, and arms embargo, comes soon after Chinese President Xi Jinping met Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on the sidelines of the recently-concluded 22nd Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in Uzbekistan.
Sources said China again provided a big favour to Pakistan, as the Sajid Mir matter was discussed there with both countries’ top officials well aware of the proposal coming up in the upcoming UNGA Sanctioning Committee meet on September 17.
After his arrest in May this year, Mir was sentenced to 15-and-a-half years in prison along with a fine of Rs 420,000 in June, after which he is currently serving his sentence at the Kot Lakhpat Jail in Lahore. But sources said that he is somewhere else in safe custody.
China’s veto in the Mir matter was the third time such an action has been taken by it in recent times.
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