Is LeT behind Pahalgam terror attack? Pak faces tough posers at UNSC meet

UN Security Council members on Tuesday sought accountability for the Pahalgam attack and posed tough questions to Pakistan on Lashkar-e-Toiba, seeking to know if the terror outfit that was based out of the country was behind the April 22 strike in which 26 civilians, mostly tourists, were killed.

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The member nations also asked Pakistan to sort out the issue with India bilaterally amid increasing global outrage over the massacre and heightened tensions between the two nuclear-armed neighbours.

The UNSC members, during a closed-door meeting at the UN headquarters in New York, refused to accept Pakistan’s narrative that the attack was a “false flag” operation carried from within India. There was broad condemnation of the terrorist attack and the need to fix accountability for it, sources said. The Security Council refused to issue a statement following the meeting which was held in a consultative room rather than the main hall, effectively dismissing Pakistan’s attempt to internationalise the issue and get a favourable position from the UNSC.

Several members raised the targeting of tourists on the basis of their religion. They also expressed concern over Pakistan’s missile tests and nuclear rhetoric, saying these had escalated tensions.

At the deliberations, the UNSC discussed rising tensions between India and Pakistan and several envoys called for de-escalation. Greece, president of the UNSC for the month of May, had scheduled the meeting on Monday following a request by Pakistan.

The UNSC has 15 members, five among them permanent and 10 non-permanent. Pakistan is among the non-permanent members, who have a two-year tenure.