NEW DELHI: China has blocked a proposal by India and the US at the United Nations to list Lashkar-e-Taiba’s Shahid Mahmood as a global terrorist. This is the fourth time this year that China has prevented the listing of a Pakistan-based terrorist on the UN platform.
The Chinese move has coincided with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres visiting India where he is expected to pay tributes to the victims of the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks that were masterminded by LeT.
Both India and the US had proposed that 42-year-old Mahmood be designated as a global terrorist under Resolution 1267 about the Al Qaeda Sanctions Committee of the UN Security Council. The US Department of Treasury has already designated Mahmood as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT) in 2016.
Mahmood is based in Karachi and has been associated with the LeT since 2007.
According to reports, Mahmood was a LeT publishing wings member in April 2013. From 2014 to 2016, he was associated with the Falah-i-Insaniyat Foundation, which claimed to be a humanitarian fund-raising wing of the LeT.
Mahmood is reported to have travelled to Bangladesh to distribute funds to a Burmese migrant camp that facilitated recruitment for LeT. He also travelled to Turkey, Syria and Gaza, according to the US Treasury Department. Mahmood claimed that LeT’s primary objective was to target the US and India.