Five UNSC members block Pak move to list two Indians as terrorists

Five countries – the US, UK, France, Germany and Belgium – have decided to block Pakistan’s move to list two Indian nationals as global terrorists under the UN Security Council 1267 sanctions committee.

The US, UK and France are permanent members of the UNSC. Germany and Belgium are non-permanent members.

These countries had earlier put a hold on the listing, to give time for evidence to be provided. With no evidence at hand, the five countries decided to block the proposal.

The two Indian nationals were identified as Gobinda Patnaik Duggivalasa and Appaji Angara.

India’s Permanent Representative to the UN in New York, T S Tirumurti tweeted on Wednesday, “Pakistan’s blatant attempt to politicize 1267 special procedure on terrorism by giving it a religious colour, has been thwarted by UN Security Council. We thank all those Council members who have blocked Pakistan’s designs.”

India managed to get Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar designated as a global terrorist under the UNSC 1267 sanctions committee in May last year.

In July, Pakistan, with the backing of UNSC’s permanent member and its ally China, had moved the 1267 Al Qaida sanctions committee to designate two Indians as global terrorists after accusing them of terror attacks in Balochistan and Peshawar, and even registered FIRs against them.

The two Indians are said to have been working in Afghanistan, but have left the country and returned to India.

Angara was working as a software developer in a bank in Kabul. Pakistan had accused him of a terrorist attack on Mall Road in Lahore on February 13, 2017, along with Jamat-ul-Ahrar, a splinter group of Tehreek-e-Taliban, Pakistan. In the dossier submitted to the 1267 committee, Angara has been accused of the attack on Army School in Peshawar on December 16, 2014.

Duggivalasa worked as head of a company engaged in capacity-building projects in Afghanistan. He was accused of a terror attack on Siraj Raisani, a Pakistani politician, on July 13, 2018 in Mastung, Balochistan, in which 160 people were killed.