China Blocks Designation of Mumbai Attack Accused as Global Terrorist

UNITED NATIONS: China has once again blocked a proposal by India and the United States in the United Nations to designate Sajjid Mir, an accused terrorist of the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) group, as a global terrorist. The Indian official, Prakash Gupta, Joint Secretary of the Ministry of External Affairs, expressed disappointment at China's opposition, stating that genuine political will is necessary to combat terrorism effectively.

The proposal, initiated by the US and supported by India, aimed to label Mir as a global terrorist, leading to the freezing of his assets, travel ban, and arms embargo. China had previously put a hold on the proposal in September of the previous year, and now it has outright blocked it.

Gupta highlighted India's enduring struggle against terrorism, citing incidents such as the 2008 Mumbai attack, the Pulwama attack, and the Uri attack, which have resulted in the loss of thousands of civilian lives and military personnel. He emphasized that terrorism remains a daily reality and called for a unified global effort to confront this challenge.

"...If we cannot get established terrorists who have been proscribed across global landscapes listed under security council architecture for pour geopolitical interest, then we do not really have the genuine political will needed to sincerely fight this challenge of terrorism...", Prakash Gupta, Joint Secretary, MEA at UN on China blocking proposals by India and US.

China's decision to block the proposal is consistent with its longstanding support for Pakistan and its reluctance to blacklist Pakistan-based terrorists in the UN Security Council's sanctions committee. The US State Department has stated that Mir has been a senior member of LeT since around 2001. He was responsible for the group's external operations from 2006 to 2011, planning and directing various terrorist attacks. Mir also conspired to carry out an attack on a newspaper and its employees in Denmark between 2008 and 2009. He was indicted in the United States in April 2011 for his involvement in the Mumbai attacks.

In August 2012, the US Department of the Treasury designated Mir as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist. Consequently, all his property and interests subject to US jurisdiction were blocked, and US individuals were generally prohibited from engaging in transactions with him. Mir is listed on the FBI's Most Wanted Terrorists List.

Mir, believed to be in his mid-40s, is a highly sought-after terrorist in India, with a $5 million bounty placed on his head by the US for his role in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks. In June of the previous year, he was sentenced to over 15 years in jail for a terrorism financing case by an anti-terrorism court in Pakistan. Despite claims by Pakistani authorities that Mir had died, Western countries remain skeptical and demand proof of his death. This issue has posed challenges in assessing Pakistan's progress on the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) action plan.

As a senior member of LeT, Mir played a leading role in planning, preparing, and executing the November 2008 Mumbai attacks. The US State Department has affirmed his involvement in the attacks. 

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