NEW DELHI, June 20: China on Tuesday blocked a joint proposal by India and the United States at the United Nations to designate Pakistan-based LeT terrorist Sajid Mir as a global terrorist. Mir was wanted for his involvement in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack.
Beijing blocked the proposal that had been moved by the U.S. and co-designated by India to blacklist Mir under the 1267 Al Qaeda Sanctions Committee of the UN Security Council as a global terrorist and subject him to assets freeze, travel ban and arms embargo.
In September last year, China had put the proposal on hold and now it has blocked it altogether. Mir is one of India’s most wanted terrorists and has a bounty of $5 million placed on his head by the U.S. for his role in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks.
In June, Mir was jailed for over 15 years in a terror-financing case by an anti-terrorism court in Pakistan. Pakistani authorities had in the past claimed Mir had died, but Western countries remained unconvinced and demanded proof of his death. This issue became a major sticking point in FATF’s assessment of Pakistan’s progress on the action plan late last year.
Mir is a senior member of the Pakistan-based LeT. “Mir was LeT’s operations manager for the attacks, playing a leading role in their planning, preparation, and execution,” the US State Department has said. Beijing, an all-weather friend of Islamabad, has repeatedly put holds on listings to blacklist Pakistan-based terrorists under the sanctions committee of the UN Security Council.
(Manas Dasgupta)