Pakistan disappointed after US blocks move but will pursue terror listing of Indians

NEW DELHI:After the US dismissed a proposal by Pakistan at UNSC, as first reported by TOI Tuesday, to designate an Indian national global terrorist, Islamabad expressed disappointment in a statement but added it will continue to pursue the listing of 3 other Indians against whom it has made similar allegations.
Islamabad had sought the listing of an Indian engineer, Venu Madhav Dongara, in Afghanistan by UNSC 1267 Sanctions Committee, holding him responsible for terror attacks in Pakistan. The proposal was seen as a retaliation against India for the listing of Pakistan based JeM chief Masood Azhar as a global terrorist by the Committee last year.
The US though on Friday officially conveyed its objection to the UN Secretariat and UNSC member states saying that it was going to formally block and dismiss the proposal as there was no real evidence against Dongara. It had last year put the proposal on a hold for the same reason.
Even as Indian officials here said that Pakistan should at least now realise that making preposterous allegations against India will only prove counterproductive, Islamabad remained defiant as it accused India of fomenting terrorism in Pakistan and hoped for "due consideration" by Sanctions Committee of its request in an "objective and transparent" manner.
While Pakistan now seems to have given up on Dongara (it will need a fresh proposal against him now), it is still hoping to get the 3 other Indian nationals listed with help from China.
Indian government sources described it as wishful thinking though. "The US finally blocked the proposal but it didn't find any traction with other members too because Pakistan couldn't back its claims with any evidence. Instead of drawing a false equivalence, Pakistan should focus on checking the activities of terror groups operating from its territory," said a government source here. India had on Tuesday further downgraded its ties with Pakistan by asking Islamabad, for the first time in almost 20 years, to halve its high commission strength here.
Pakistan had proposed the designation of four Indian nationals, including Dongara, in 2019 under the UN 1267 sanctions list.
It had alleged that these individuals were "financing, sponsoring and organizing terrorism" inside Pakistan by providing financial, technical and material support to terrorist groups including TTP, Jamaat-ul-Ahrar and others.
"We are disappointed that Pakistan’s proposal to designate Venumadhav Dongara as a terrorist has been objected to," it said.
The Pakistan foreign ministry further claimed that the fact that these Indian nationals were now residing in India "with impunity vindicated Pakistan’s position that India is a state-sponsor of terrorism".