China blocks India-US proposal at UN to label Sajid Mir as 'global terrorist' again, here's what India said

Prakash Gupta, Joint Secretary, at the Ministry of External Affairs, said, "...If we cannot get established terrorists who have been proscribed across global landscapes listed under security council architecture for pure geopolitical interest, then we do not really have the genuine political will needed to sincerely fight this challenge of terrorism..."

"India has faced the brunt of terrorism largely flowing from across our borders for the last three decades. While the 9/11 terror-bombings in New York changed the landscape of global counter-terror architecture, the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks shook the collective conscience of the world's largest democracy," he added while giving details of a history of terror attacks in India.

 

The MEA Joint Secretary then reportedly played an audio in which Mir is heard instructing the attack on Chabad House, one of the terror targets in the Mumbai attack.

"Even as the terror attacks were unfolding, Sajid Mir, a very dreaded terrorist who directed the terrorists from across the border in real time to hunt down foreigners in the Taj Hotel and kill them indiscriminately," the official was quoted by ANI as saying.

He said Mir was listed as a proscribed terrorist under the national laws of India. "He was prescribed, under the laws of the United States, this host country and of several other countries globally, many of whose nationals lost their lives," Gupta added.

In a veiled attack on China, the official went on to say said, "When the proposal for labelling him as a global terrorist did not go through the Security Council sanctions regime, we had strong reasons to believe that something was genuinely wrong in the global sanctions regime as manifested in the Security Council."

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.

In September last year, it was learnt that China had put a hold on the proposal to designate Mir at the UN. Beijing has now blocked the proposal.

In October last year, China put on hold a proposal to list Talha Saeed, son of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) chief Hafiz Saeed. This bid was moved by India and co-supported by the US, under the 1267 sanction regime.

It was the fifth time that China has blocked an India-US proposal in recent months, Lashkar-e-Taiba member Shahid Mahmood in October, Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorist Sajid Mir in September, LeT and Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) leader Abdul Rehman Makki in June, as well as Abdul Rauf Azhar in August, the brother of Jaish-e Mohammed (JEM) chief Masood Azhar, were protected by Beijing.

Mir, believed to be in his mid-40s, is one of India's most wanted terrorists and has a bounty of USD 5 million placed on his head by the US for his role in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks.

In June last year, 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 and is wanted for his involvement in the November 2008 terrorist attacks in Mumbai.

"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.

The US State Department had said that Mir has been a senior member of LeT since approximately 2001. From 2006 to 2011, Mir was in charge of LeT’s external operations and planned and directed various terrorist attacks on behalf of the group.

Moreover, Mir is accused of conspiring to commit a terrorist attack against a newspaper and its employees in Denmark between 2008 and 2009.

For his role in the Mumbai attacks, Mir was indicted in the United States in April 2011.

In August 2012, the US Department of the Treasury designated Mir as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist. As a result of this designation, among other consequences, all property and interests in property of Mir that are subject to US jurisdiction are blocked, and US persons are generally prohibited from engaging in any transactions with Mir.

"Mir is on the FBI's Most Wanted Terrorists List,” according to information on the State Department website.