UNSC members block Pakistan's plan to list Indians as terrorists
What's the story
Five members of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) blocked a move by Pakistan to list two Indians as UN-designated terrorists, reports said on Thursday. The members had earlier granted time to Pakistan to back its claims by evidence, but it failed to furnish proof. Islamabad wanted to frame two Indians, identified as Gobinda Patnaik Duggivalasa and Appaji Angara. Here are more details.
Details
US, UK, and France stood by India against Pakistan's move
Permanent members US, UK, and France, and non-permanent ones Germany and Belgium stood by New Delhi against Islamabad's plans. Initially, Pakistan wanted to label four Indians as terrorists. It wanted UNSC to label Venumadhav Dongara and Ajoy Mistry as terrorists, but the proposal was junked in June-July, reports HT. US, UK, France, and Germany had helped India at the time.
Claims
Pakistan blamed Indian for Peshawar Army School massacre
Pakistan submitted in UNSC that these men were involved with an Afghanistan-based group, which assisted in terror attacks carried out by Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan and Jamaat-ul-Ahrar. About Angara, Pakistan alleged that he had a role in the attack in Lahore's Mall Road, which happened on February 13, 2017. Islamabad also dragged Angara's name in the 2014 Peshawar Army School massacre.
Employees
All four worked in Afghanistan, have returned to India
Moreover, Duggivalasa was accused of a terror attack that happened on July 13, 2018, in Balochistan, which left 160 people dead. While Duggivalasa was employed as a company head in Afghanistan, Angara worked as a software developer in a Kabul bank. Dongara and Mistry also worked in Afghanistan. All four nationals have reportedly left Afghanistan and are back in India.
Hold
Countries dismissed Pakistan's request after it failed to furnish proof
Earlier, the move against Duggivalasa and Angara was put on "technical hold," and was finally dismissed on Wednesday after closed-door consultations. TS Tirumurti, India's permanent representative to the UN, tweeted, "Pakistan's blatant attempt to politicize 1267 special procedure on terrorism by giving it a religious color, has been thwarted by UN Security Council. We thank all those Council members who have blocked Pakistan's designs."
Retaliation
Pakistan is clearly miffed after Azhar became UN-designated terrorist
India believes Pakistan is making frivolous attempts to "avenge" Masood Azhar's listing as a global terrorist last year. Azhar, the founder of Jaish-e-Mohammed, was listed as a terrorist by UNSC months after the Pulwama attack. In the dastardly attack, 40 CRPF soldiers were martyred. As a result of the listing, Azhar's assets were frozen and an arms embargo was levied on him.
FATF
Notably, Pakistan, known for shielding terrorists, is on FATF's greylist
It's pertinent to highlight that Pakistan no longer enjoys a good reputation on the global stage after it took little action to contain home-grown terrorism. Global watchdog FATF put Pakistan on its greylist, with a warning that the county would be blacklisted if it doesn't take proper measures against terror-financing. A demotion to the blacklist would spell doom for Pakistan's already struggling economy.