Efforts to punish 26/11 culprits repeatedly blocked: India

United Nations, November 25

India has said its efforts to sanction perpetrators of the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks have been blocked in the past for “political reasons”, an apparent reference to China’s repeated moves to block New Delhi’s efforts to blacklist Pakistan-based terrorists at the UN.

India’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Ambassador Ruchira Kamboj, said terrorism continued to pose a “grave threat” to international peace and security as ISIS and Al-Qaida-affiliated groups continued to target civilians and the security forces.

“Lest we forget, in November 2008, 10 terrorists entered the city of Mumbai through the sea route from Pakistan, ravaging the city for four days, killing 166 people, including 26 foreign nationals,” she said on Wednesday in her remarks to the UN Security Council.

Her remarks came ahead of the 14th anniversary of the 26/11 terror attacks in Mumbai. “Our efforts to sanction the perpetrators and facilitators of these terror attacks were blocked in the past for political reasons. These actors continue to walk free and have been organising further cross-border attacks against my country,” she said as China has repeatedly blocked bids by India and the US to blacklist Pakistan-based terrorists.

Since June this year, China, an all-weather ally of Pakistan, has put on hold proposals to blacklist Pakistan-based terrorists Hafiz Talah Saeed, Lashkar-e-Toiba leader Shahid Mahmood, LeT terrorist Sajid Mir, senior Jaish leader Abdul Rauf Azhar and Abdul Rehman Makki under the Al-Qaida sanctions regime.