External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Thursday took a veiled dig at China over its putting on hold blacklisting of a JeM terrorist and said some countries have facilitated impunity “when it comes to sanctioning some of the world’s most dreaded terrorists.”
Speaking at the UNSC briefing on Ukraine ‘Fight against impunity’, the minister said politics should never ever provide cover to evade accountability. “Nor indeed to facilitate impunity. Regrettably, we have seen this of late in this very chamber, when it comes to sanctioning some of the world’s most dreaded terrorists.”
“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 added.
China had earlier this month put on hold a proposal moved at the United Nations by the US and co-supported by India to designate Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorist Sajid Mir, one of India’s most wanted terrorists and the main handler of 2008 Mumbai attack, as a global terrorist.
Beijing has repeatedly puts on hold on listings to blacklist Pakistan-based terrorists under the sanctions committee of the UN Security Council. It is the third time in recent months that China has blocked an India-US proposal. Earlier, Abdul Rehman Makki, a leader of the LeT and Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD), and Abdul Rauf Azhar, the brother of Jaish-e Mohammed (JEM) founder Masood Azhar, were given “protection” by Beijing in the sanctions committee.