China has rejected the blacklisting of Sajid Mir, India’s most wanted terrorist. China overturned a proposal led by the U.S. and co-designated by India to blacklist Mir under the 1267 Al Qaeda Sanctions Committee of the UN Security Council as a global terrorist and demand heavy restrictions on him like freeze assets, travel ban, and arms embargo. This came just ahead of PM Modi’s visit to the States.
India criticised China for obstructing a move to designate Pakistan-based LeT leader Sajid Mir as a “global terrorist” by the UN. India described China’s rejection as an act of provocation that hindered the fight against global terrorism.
In a strongly-worded statement, Joint Secretary at India’s permanent mission in New York Prakash Gupta said on Tuesday that if efforts to ban terrorists fail due to petty geopolitical interests, then we really do not have the genuine political will to sincerely fight this challenge of terrorism. Mir is a Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorist from Pakistan who is the mastermind of the 26/11 Mumbai Terror attacks.
“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.
Gupta also questioned the UN procedures that are more of a hindrance to fighting terrorism. “In this day and age of accountability, can transparency and evidence-based listing proposals be blocked without giving any reason?” China had previously put this proposal on hold at the UN in September and now blocked it again.
Sajid Mir has a bounty of $5 million on his head for his role in the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, in which 166 people were killed. India had evidence against Mir in the form of an audio recording, which was also played at the UN meeting in Mumbai as one of the essential proofs of his involvement in the Mumbai attacks. The footage was again played in Tuesday’s meeting. Gupta said, “Please listen to this sound file recorded even as the terror attacks were unfolding. This is Sajid Mir directing the terrorists on the phone to hunt down foreigners at the Taj Hotel and kill them indiscriminately.”
Following this, India goaded nations to take this matter into consideration, as the psychology behind such acts of terrorism comes with the misinterpretations of religion’s ethics and teachings and involves disturbing traditions of getting religion or religiophobia adversaries thrust into criminal syndicates that become facilitators of terrorism.
Citing the 9/11 Twin Tower attacks in New York, Gupta stated that just as the attack had changed the sight of global counter-terrorism architecture, the 26/11 attacks in Mumbai had overwhelmed the collective conscience of the world’s largest democracy.
Adding salt to the wounds, Pakistan casually declared Sajid Mir, the brains behind the deadly terror attacks, dead while many Western nations demanded more proof of his involvement which persists to this day. It is to be noted that the anti-terror funding body Financial Action Task Force (FATF)’s had Pakistan on its grey list for a long time for its inaction on terror funding. Despite all this, China’s move to block the designation of Sajid Mir as a global terrorist puts into question its will to fight terrorism.
(Harshita is pursuing a post-graduation in International Relations. She has an undergraduate degree in Global Affairs with a specialization in social sciences and humanities. She is a certified French speaker. Opinions expressed are the author’s own.)
References:
- Man who planned and directed 26/11: Sajid Mir, whose designation as a terrorist has been blocked by China (The Indian Express)
- India slams China at UN for blocking move to designate 26/11 accused Sajid Mir as ‘global terrorist’
- Something Genuinely Wrong”: India Slams China Move On Pak-Based Terrorist (NDTV)
Aayush Pal 
Dr. Niranjan B Poojar 
Bhagyashree Gupta