UN Anti-Terrorism Meeting: India and US seek the list of terrorists from 26/11 site, China says don’t politicize

With China blocking a list of five Pakistan-based terrorists in recent weeks, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken have labelled 26/11 Mumbai terror attack planners as global terrorists in a UN counter-terrorism operation. Raised the issue of listing. Conference in Mumbai on Friday.

Representatives of all 15 members of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) were present at the conference held at the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel, one of the sites of the 2008 terror attacks.

China’s Yan Hua Wang, a deputy consul general at China’s consulate general in Mumbai who was also present in the room, asked countries to “avoid mutual accusations and politicize technical issues”.

At a special meeting of the United Nations Counter-Terrorism Committee on Combating the Use of New and Emerging Technologies for Terrorist Purposes, to be held in Mumbai and New Delhi on Friday and Saturday, Indian officials gave details of the conspiracy and the 26/11 attacks.

In a presentation seen by 15 current UNSC members and five visiting members, senior Home Ministry officials played an audio clip of one of the attack’s planners, Sajid Mir. In the audio clip, he can be heard instructing the terrorists to shoot at Nariman House.

The listing of Sajid Mir as a global terrorist, an initiative by India and the US, was blocked by China at the United Nations in September this year.

Pictures of all the prime accused in various terror attacks on India, including Lashkar-e-Taiba’s Hafiz Saeed and Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, were shown to all the members on the screen. Delegates sit at a replica of the iconic horseshoe table in the UNSC Room in New York.

The UAE’s Minister of State for International Cooperation, Reem Ibrahim Al Hashimi, spoke about the Nariman House incident where Israelis were targeted and said, “We all saw and heard what happened at Nariman House, and we all talked about it. Are familiar with how radical ideas are radical.

Several survivors of the Mumbai terror attacks, including Vaishali Omble (wife of slain policeman Tukaram Omble), Moshe Holtzberg (whose parents were killed), Devika (who was then a 10-year-old girl) and Taj Hotel employee Karambir. Kang also spoke on occasion. Nidhi Chaphekar, a survivor of the 2016 Brussels airport terrorist attack, also said.

“We need to ensure the effective and transparent functioning of Security Council sanctions regimes and that they are not ineffective for political reasons. Objective and evidence-based proposals to list terrorist groups, especially those with financial resources to block their access, must be seen through,” he said.

“Our accountability efforts are more effective when we work together,” Blinken said in a video statement. We called India to nominate many terrorists through the United Nations 1267 Committee. We have worked together. All concerned parties should support these designations. No nation can stand in their way.”

This indirectly references China’s opposition to the list of terrorists.

The US Secretary of State also said, “…As we reflect on the irreparable loss of 26/11, let it be our reminder to all of us to hold our unfinished business and perpetrators accountable… To prevent terrorist attacks. People, anywhere.”

Jaishankar said, “We all know that money is the lifeblood of terrorism. Terrorist organizations require money and resources to maintain their organizational functions and carry out activities. The fact that terrorism continues to exist and spread points to an underlying truth: that terrorism is getting the financial resources necessary to flourish.”

In this regard, he made a 5-point suggestion for the consideration of the UN Anti-Terrorism Committee:

1. “Effective and sustained efforts to combat the financing of terrorism are at the heart of the issue of counter-terrorism. There is a need to coordinate joint efforts at the United Nations in collaboration with the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and other fora, such as the Egmont Group.

2. “We need to ensure the effective and transparent functioning of Security Council sanctions regimes and ensure that they do not become ineffective for political reasons.”

3. “International cooperation and concerted action against terrorists and their sponsors, including the destruction of terrorist safe havens, sanctuaries, training grounds and financial and ideological as well as political support structures, are critical imperatives to defeating this crisis.”

4. “The nexus of terrorism with international organized crime, smuggling of illegal drugs and weapons is now well established.”

5. “Over the years, terrorist groups have diversified their funding portfolio. They have also begun to utilise the anonymity of new and emerging technologies, such as virtual currencies, for fundraising and finance.

“In this regard, we look forward to deliberations at the special meeting of the committee in New Delhi tomorrow to provide innovative solutions for the international community to consider,” he said.

British Foreign Secretary James Cleverley said, “We are here because we know that counter-terrorism cooperation must continue to adapt and evolve to match new threats and emerging technologies. We must do everything we can to prevent attacks.” Should, as happened here in Mumbai, will never happen again.”