At a high-level United Nations (UN) conference on counter-terrorism, India on Wednesday pointed out that there are issues with the global counter-terrorism architecture after the UN Security Council (UNSC) failed to designate 26/11 mastermind Sajid Mir after member China on Tuesday blocked a proposal by India and the US at the United Nations.
Prakash Gupta, the joint secretary at the United Nations, said justice still continues to elude the victims of the Mumbai terror attacks and played an audio recording of Sajid Mir guiding fellow terrorists to hunt down foreigners inside the Taj hotel and kill them indiscriminately.
“The mastermind of the Mumbai Terror Attacks Sajid Mir – was listed as a proscribed terrorist – under the national laws of India, of the United States, and of several other countries. But when the proposal for listing Sajid Mir – did not get through the Global Listings of the UNSC sanctions regime despite several member states co-sponsoring it – we have righteous reasons to believe that something is genuinely wrong with the global counter terrorism architecture,” Gupta said.
“It is vital that we do not take a selective, tactical or even a complacent view of the problems we face. We must never countenance sanctuaries for terrorists or overlook the raising of their resources. And when we see state hospitality being extended to those with innocents’ blood on their hands, we should never lack the courage to call out this double-speak," he said at the meeting.
China blocked the proposal moved by the US and co-designated by India to blacklist Mir under the 1267 Al Qaeda Sanctions Committee of the UN Security Council as a global terrorist, which would have subjected him to assets freeze, travel ban and arms embargo.
“If we cannot get established terrorists who have been banned across global landscapes proscribed by the United Nations – for petty geopolitical interests – then we really do not have the genuine political will to sincerely fight this challenge of terrorism,” Prakash Gupta said.
NEW TOOLS TO PREVENT SUCH MOVES
Gupta then urged the UNSC members to close some critical gaps. “Avoid double standards and this self- defeating justification of good terrorists vs bad terrorists,” Gupta said.
“A terror act is a terror act – period - any justification – being used – should not be countenanced upon by anybody,” he further added.
Gupta also said that the sanctions regime must devise methods to “secure the successful listing of genuine and evidence based objective listing proposals”. “Can we allow for submission of proposals under the garb of anonymity? Should we not be owning up to serious proposals that are being moved for the consideration of the entire UNSC membership,” Gupta further added.
Gupta also urged members to avoid the “slippery slope” trend of “getting religion or one kind of religiophobia inadvertently inserted in the terrorism discourse.”
(with inputs from Shalinder Wangu)