China blocked a joint effort by India and the United States (US) in the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) last Thursday to designate Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) commander Sajid Mir as a ‘global terrorist’ under the United Nations (UN) 1267 sanctions list.
Mir is a former member of the Pakistani Army and orchestrated the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks by recruiting and training a group of attackers, including Ajmal Kasab. He also sent David Headley to Mumbai to gather information and prepare for the 2008 attacks, during which 12 police officers, 122 Indian civilians, and 26 foreign nationals were killed and a further 291 people were injured.
Apart from the Mumbai attacks, Mir has recruited terrorists in France, and led attacks against a Danish newspaper company and its employees between 2008 and 2009. In 2007, a French court also convicted a French national for orchestrating attacks in Australia alongside Sajid Mir.
Mir reportedly also has connections to Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan.
ICYMI: China has (for the 3rd time in recent weeks) blocked move by India & US to sanction a Pakistan-based terrorist at the UNSC - in this case, LeT operative Sajid Mir, who played a key role in the 2008 Mumbai attacks that killed nearly 170 people. pic.twitter.com/R2wpwQNd4L
— Rezaul Hasan Laskar (@Rezhasan) September 17, 2022
The LeT leader features in India’s Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and the US’s Federal Bureau of Investigation’s most wanted lists.
If he were to be placed on the UNSC’s list, he would be barred from gaining access to funds or weapons and banned from travelling to other countries.
He is currently in a Pakistani jail after being convicted in a terror financing case. The Pakistani government has previously claimed that Mir died until December 2021 but later said he had been arrested, convicted, and sentenced under the Pakistani Anti-Terror Act. Analysts believe that Pakistan’s move was motivated by its upcoming assessment before the Financial Action Task Force, which has kept Pakistan on its “Grey List” despite noting that it has made progress in countering terror financing.
This is not the first time China has blocked efforts to sanction Pakistan-based terrorists.
In June and July, China thwarted attempts by India and the US to place LeT Deputy Chief Abdur Rahman Makki and Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) deputy chief Rauf Azhar on the UNSC’s sanctions list.
This is the second time that China has placed a technical hold on the listing of Abdul Rauf Azhar Alvi at the 1267 sanctions committee, allowing a six-month additional window.
— Geeta Mohan گیتا موہن गीता मोहन (@Geeta_Mohan) August 11, 2022
Earlier, China had blocked the designation of Abdur Rahman Makki, deputy chief of the LeT/JuD. https://t.co/trOV6vZxm1
On both occasions, Beijing had halted the procedure and delayed it by six months by imposing a “technical hold.” As a permanent member, China can delay the process for another six months, following which it has the option of either accepting or permanently blocking the proposal.
China also blocked the designation of JeM chief Masood Azhar in the sanctions list back in 2018, demanding more information before introducing the measures. However, it finally gave in in 2019 after accepting evidence of his links to Al Qaeda.
India has thus criticised China for having “double standards” and taking a “two-faced” approach to designating Pakistan-based terrorists in the 1267 list, even those who belong to groups that have been on the sanctions list for decades.
India’s permanent representative at the UN, Ruchira Kamboj, expressed dismay that “genuine and evidence-based listing proposals” had been blocked, which she said was evidence of China’s “continuing politicisation” of the sanctions regime. Moreover, Indian External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar said the countries blocking the designations were doing so “at peril to their own interests and their own reputation.”
We should refrain from labelling terrorism based on motivations which will only allow opportunistic forces to provide justification for certain terror activities based on their convenience: Ruchira Kamboj, Ambassador of India to UN at UNSC briefing pic.twitter.com/bGYQ47Lluv
— ANI (@ANI) August 10, 2022
Along the same lines, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in June’s BRICS meeting that countries should “understand security concerns of each other and provide mutual support in designation of terrorists.”
However, China maintained that its resistance to the designation comes from concern about the lack of evidence and the need to bar the sanctions list from being used to advance geopolitical interests.
China’s decision to block Sajid Mir’s designation comes as Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping participated in the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation’s summit in Samarkand last week, wherein the group vowed to take a unified and consolidated position against terrorism in the Eurasian region. In fact, Xi highlighted the need to take a firm stand on countering terrorism.
Following the meeting, Indian Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra said that Modi had stressed the need for a “unified list” of terrorists and terror organisations threatening the region’s security.