Pakistan lies at UN, now media report says it wants UN to declare India 'terror sponsor'

NEW DELHI: Pakistan has reportedly begun to lobby the UN to declare India a 'state sponsor of terror'+ , said a report in the Pakistan newspaper The Express Tribune, citing unnamed "highly credible sources".

It however didn't make for an auspicious start that Pakistan lied at the august body's General Assembly on Sunday+ , as its representative waved a photograph of a wounded Palestinian woman, and claimed she was a Kashmiri pellet gun victim.

This would be especially troubling for Pakistan, which, according to the Tribune report, plans to "share damning evidence with key world powers" of India's alleged sponsorship of terrorism. It would need to get its evidence sourcing right to make any headway.

Still, the report said Pakistan already has, who else, but 'all-weather friend' China's support in the matter. Apparently, all the UN Security Council's veto-wielding members - especially China, of course, and Russia - will be approached to get their support on declaring India a 'terror sponsor'. After that, Pakistan prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi will apparently move a resolution in the Security Council.

As for the US, Pakistan will apparently take it "into confidence" on the issue, sources told the Tribune.

In addition, Pakistani officials will reportedly "impress upon their American counterparts to build up diplomatic pressure on India to desist from provocation along the Line of Control and the Working Boundary." This is expected to happen when an American delegation arrived in Islamabad next month for high-level talks, according to an understanding reached in a meeting between Abbasi and US Vice President Mike Pence, the Tribune report said.

It may not be an understatement to say that Pakistan may have an uphill task convincing the Security Council to declare India a 'state sponsor of terror', especially considering US President Donald Trump savagely called out Islamabad last month on the very issue it is accusing India of.

Last month, while outlining his administration's Afghan policy, Trump named Pakistan and condemned it for providing "safe havens to agents of violence, chaos and terror". Why, even Trump's maiden UN speech last week more than hinted at the country.

"It is time to expose and hold responsible those countries who support and finance terror groups like al-Qaida, Hezbollah, the Taliban, and others that slaughter innocent people," said Trump at the UN.

Like in August, when Trump threatened to cut off funding to Pakistan, at the UN, too, he spoke of denying any form of support to those who harbour terror safe havens.

"We must deny the terrorists safe haven, transit, funding, and any form of support for their vile and sinister ideology," said Trump.
Other countries too, except for China, have come out recently against Pakistan-based terror groups.

The India-Japan statement issued after Prime Minister Shinzo Abe visited the country earlier this month, named Pakistan-based terror groups Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) and Jaish-e-Muhammed (JeM). The 2008 Mumbai terror attacks were carried out by LeT operatives. And the JeM's Masood Azhar was the mastermind of last year's terror attack in Pathankot.

Not only did India convince Japan, it also got other BRICS countries to name and shame these groups at the summit in China earlier this month. Specific reference to the LeT and JeM were made in the BRICS declaration, even though China has consistently blocked India's attempt to get the UN to sanction the JeM's Azhar.

The references to JeM and LeT, which enjoy the support of the Pakistan army and ISI, clearly were a setback to China's "all-weather" ally Pakistan. Officials told TOI at the time that the BRICS declaration was a tactical concession by China, and came about largely because other BRICS members were clear that terror groups had to be uniformly condemned.