NEW DELHI: With the United Nations Security Council’s (UNSC) 1267 sanction committee scheduled to meet next week, India has decided to send a team to the meeting.
According to sources, the team will present the latest evidence highlighting Pakistan’s complicity in terrorism.
The evidence will also focus on the role of The Resistance Front (TRF), an offshoot of the banned terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba, in the Pahalgam terror attack on April 22, in which 26 innocent civilians were killed.
The 1267 sanctions committee, also known as the ISIS and Al-Qaida sanctions committee, which was established under UNSC Resolution in 1999, is one of the most important UN subsidiary bodies working towards combating terrorism, particularly in relation to ISIS, Al-Qaida and associated individuals, groups, undertakings and entities, the sources said.
It also oversees sanction measures related to individuals, entities and groups, associated with the terror organizations and ensures the implementation of sanctions pursuant to UNSC resolutions 1267 (1999), 1989 (2011) and 2253 (2015), they added.
The Indian government’s decision has come after a ceasefire was declared amid chances of Indian and Pakistan reaching to the brink of an all-out war after India’s response to Pahalgam terror attack by conducting ‘Operation Sindoor’ in which nine terror hideouts deep inside Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) were targeted and destroyed earlier this week.
On earlier occasions also India had engaged with the 1267 Committee to highlight the activities of Pakistan-based terrorists and to seek formal recognition of their involvement in cross-border attacks, the sources said, adding that though several individuals have been listed as designated terrorists, some of the proposals have faced resistance or have been blocked, particularly by China, which holds veto power as a permanent member of the UNSC.
It is to be noted here that Pakistan has been shielding TRF at the UNSC through China and had recently managed to block the mention of the terror outfit’s name in a UNSC statement condemning the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack, the sources said, adding that this was done despite TRF claimed responsibility for the attack twice.
In the backdrop of this it is evident that Pakistan has been following a pattern of diplomatic cover for the terror outfits, the sources alleged.
TRF emerged on the terror scene as an offshoot of the LeT after the government’s decision to do away with special status to Jammu & Kashmir under Article 370 of the Constitution. The NIA in its investigation into several of the terror related cases found TRF’s involvement in planning, killings, recruiting terrorists and smuggling weapons.
It has also found that TRF has been involved in several terror attacks, including targeted killings, grenade attacks and ambushes in Kashmir.
The sources said India will approach the UNSC 1267 Sanctions Committee to designate TRF as a terrorist organisation, imposing sanctions and travel bans on its members.
Meanwhile, after expressing its concerns verbally with the IMF, India is now preparing a stronger and more direct response by making a strong push for putting Pakistan in the Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF) grey list and ensuring that aid to the country is suspended, the sources said.
