Following the Chinese resistance to India’s appeal at the UN to ban Jaish-e-Mohammad chief Maulana Masood Azhar, India on Friday retorted to the use of ‘hidden veto’ and questioned it’s accountability.
The question posed by India is why United Nation Organization’s general members are never made aware of the reason for not agreeing to the requests for sanctioning terrorists.
India’s Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador Syed Akbaruddin told the UN Security Council “the procedures of unanimity and anonymity of the Al Qaeda, Taliban and ISIS Sanctions Committees need to be revisited. The procedures of unanimity and anonymity result in a lack of accountability.” Akbaruddin was speaking in an open debate on ‘Threats to International Peace and Security Caused by Terrorist Acts.’
Referring to China’s impediment to India’s bid of banning the mastermind of the Pathankot terror attack Masood in the UN Sanctions Committee; Akbaruddin said each of the 15 members in the committee has a veto, none except these 15 members are told as to which nation has wielded the veto in a specific instance.
“The general membership of the UN is never formally informed of how and why requests for listing terrorists are not acceded to. Counter terror mechanisms such as the Sanctions Committees that act on behalf of the international community need to build trust not engender impunity by the use of this form of a hidden veto,” Akbaruddin said.
After the attack on the airbase in Pathankot in January, India had in February written to the UN calling for immediate action to list the chief of the Pakistan-based terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) under the UN Sanctions Committee.
The Indian submission was considered by the Counter- Terrorism Executive Directorate (CTED) because of the technical aspects of the evidence provided.
The technical team then with the support of the US, UK and France had sent it to all the members, sources said.
All were told that if there are no objections, the designation will be announced after the expiry of the deadline but just hours before the deadline, China requested the UN committee to keep the designation on hold.
When asked at a briefing earlier this month as to why China had put a hold on the listing request by India against Masood Azhar, Chinese envoy and President of the Security Council for the month Liu Jieyi said that any listing would have to meet the requirements, stressing that it was the Council members’ responsibility to ensure the criteria was followed.
