Unacceptable: Congress as Pakistan named vice-chair of UNSC’s anti-terror committee

The Opposition Congress on Thursday termed as unacceptable the naming of Pakistan as the chair of UNSC’s 1988 Taliban Sanctions Committee and vice-chair of UNSC’s Counter-Terrorism Committee for 2025.

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A day after the updated list of chairs for the United Nations Security Council’s subsidiary bodies was unveiled, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge urged the government to ensure “de-hyphenation of India and Pakistan on the global stage”.

“The naming of Pakistan as the vice-chair of the 15-member United Nations Security Council’s Counter-Terrorism Committee and chair of the Taliban Sanctions Committee for 2025 is most unfortunate, ill-informed and unacceptable. The international community must see merit in India’s case that Pakistan should be included back in the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) grey list for monitoring of its terror financing,” Kharge said.

The UNSC 1988 Taliban Sanctions Committee works on asset freeze, travel restrictions and arms embargoes against terrorist groups and individuals linked to the Taliban.

The updated UNSC list says Denmark will chair the 1267 ISIL (Daesh) and Al-Qaida Sanctions Committee in 2025 and Russia and Sierra Leone will be vice-chairs. Algeria will chair the 1373 counter-terrorism committee, while France, Pakistan and Russia will serve as vice-chairs.

Kharge today said Pakistan was first included in the FATF grey list after India’s diplomatic efforts under late PM Manmohan Singh in 2008 and then again in 2012.

Pakistan has been in the FATF grey list three times, the last being in 2018.

“Making Pakistan accountable for its sins is a necessity not just for India, but for the interests of the international community. It is perhaps worth remembering that the most wanted terrorist, Osama bin Laden, responsible for 9/11 was found and eliminated in Pakistan. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (KSM), the chief planner of 9/11 was also a Pakistani,” said the Congress chief.

“The Congress exhorts the international community to understand and support India’s stand on terrorism emanating from Pakistan. Pakistan is the perpetrator of terror. India is a victim of terror. They cannot be equated. They should not be hyphenated,” Kharge said.

In May, India had opposed the International Monetary Fund’s extension of $2.1 billion in two instalments to Pakistan as part of its Extended Fund Facility (EFF) programme.

India conveyed to IMF chief Kristalina Georgieva that Pakistan’s arms procurements rose every time the agency extended loans to it.

“Pakistan’s arms imports increased dramatically from 1980 to 2023 by over 20 per cent on an average in the years when it received the IMF disbursements in comparison to the years when it did not receive the same,” sources told IMF.

India also opposed the Asian Development Bank’s $800 million bailout package to Pakistan.

Top government sources said India informed the ADB that Pakistan’s progress on implementation of the most critical FATF action items relating to terrorist financing investigations and prosecution of leaders of UN-designated terrorist groups and freezing and confiscation of criminal assets remained highly unsatisfactory.

India is working to return Pakistan to the FATF grey list in the review due this month and will also oppose the proposed World Bank $20 billion package to Pakistan.

The Congress said loans sanctioned by the IMF, ADB and World Bank would only bolster Pakistan’s military expenditure, which its rogue Army uses to sponsor terrorism against India.