Five in 4 months: China blocks India-US bid to sanction another LeT terrorist

China has blocked a joint move by India and the US to sanction Pakistan-based terrorist Talha Saeed, son of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) leader Hafiz Saeed, at the United Nations Security Council.

This was the second such move by Beijing in two days and five in four months. China on Tuesday put a hold on a similar proposal by India and the US to list another LeT operative, Shahid Mahmood, as a global terrorist.

As a permanent member of the UN Security Council, China put a “hold” on the listing of Saeed and Mahmood as global terrorists. Since June, China has used the same measure to block India-US proposals to designate four men as global terrorists.

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The first was LeT leader Abdul Rehman Makki in June. The second was Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) leader Abdul Rauf Azhar in August. And the third was LeT operative Sajid Mir in September. A “technical hold,” which can last for up to six months, blocks terrorist designation proposals until it is withdrawn.

LeT’s media man

India designated Saeed as a terrorist in April this year, while the US treasury department listed him as a global terrorist as far back as in August 2012. At that time, the US described Saeed as a “prominent leader within LeT since early 2005.” Saeed is said to have used his position to “acquire facilities on behalf of LeT” and worked on websites to support the terror group’s media operations, indoctrination, and propaganda programme.

Saeed travelled extensively across Pakistan to speak on behalf of the organisation, ran LeT’s radio operations, and worked for the group’s magazine. He recruited members and supporters for LeT and was part of the group’s “executive board” in the foreign relations department. In late 2007, Saeed travelled to West Asia as part of an LeT team seeking support.

China’s move came on a day when UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres paid tribute to victims of the Mumbai terror attacks carried out by a 10-member LeT team. Guterres described terrorism as an “absolute evil,” and the Mumbai attacks as “barbaric.” He said all countries must combat the evil together.

Five in a row

The US treasury department designated Mahmood as a “specially designated global terrorist” in December 2016. According to the US, Mahmood has played a significant role in LeT’s overseas operations, including in Bangladesh, Myanmar, Syria, and Turkey.

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According to the US treasury department website, the Karachi-based LeT leader was affiliated with the group since 2007 and served during 2015-16 as the vice-chairman of the Falah-e-Insaniyat Foundation (FIF), which the US and the UN have designated as a front for the LeT.

Mahmood was also “part of LeT’s overseas operations team led by Sajid Mir,” the US treasury department said in a statement in 2016.

Abdul Rehman Makki is a US-designated terrorist and brother-in-law of LeT head and 26/11 mastermind Hafiz Saeed. According to the US, Abdul Rauf Azhar, a senior JEM leader, urged Pakistanis to engage in militant activities. In 2008, he was assigned to organise suicide attacks in India. He was also involved with JEM’s political wing and has served as a JEM official involved with training camps. LeT terrorist Sajid Mir is one of India’s “most wanted” terrorists and has a bounty of $5 million placed on his head by the US for his role in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks.

“China needs more time”

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar had said in his address to the high-level UN General Assembly session in September, “The United Nations responds to terrorism by sanctioning its perpetrators. Those who politicise the UNSC 1267 Sanctions regime, sometimes even to the extent of defending proclaimed terrorists, do so at their own peril. Believe me, they advance neither their own interests nor indeed their reputation.”

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Jaishankar had told a news conference in September that the listing of terrorists is done because these individuals are a threat to the entire international community. “So, it is not something which countries necessarily do in pursuit of a narrow national agenda,” he said at the time.

Chinese ambassador Sun Weidong defended the country’s move by saying that the UN Security Council members have the right to use a “technical hold” on terrorist-listing applications under the 1267 Al Qaeda Sanctions Committee rules. China “needs more time to evaluate the relevant listing applications,” which it was doing in line with rules and procedures, he told reporters recently.

(With agency inputs)