India seeks IS-like focus from UNSC on Pak-based terrorists

Indian Permanent Representative to the UN, Syed Akbaruddin, called for the world body to start collaborating its counter-terrorism efforts with the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).

India on Tuesday sought to push the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) to not stop at proscribing terrorists and terrorist groups such the Pakistan-based D-Company, Jaish-e-Mohammed and Lashkar-e-Taiba, and follow up by granting them a “similar degree of interest” as it did to “denude” the Islamic State.

Ambassador Syed Akbaruddin, India's Permanent Representative to the United Nations, stressed that India has felt frustrated by the lack of on-going and committed collective action to degrade these sub-continental terrorists and entities as was undertaken by the UNSC to tackle Islamic State.(PTI File)

Participating in a UNSC discussion on linkages between organised crime and international terrorism, Indian Permanent Representative to the UN, Syed Akbaruddin, called for the world body to start collaborating its counter-terrorism efforts with the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), saying the Paris-based watchdog has been “playing a significant role in setting global standards for preventing and combating money laundering and terrorist financing”.

India has felt frustrated by the lack of on-going and committed collective action to degrade these sub-continental terrorists and entities as was undertaken by the UNSC to tackle Islamic State. The UNSC did not stop after simply proscribing the outfit.

“They worked together to shut off IS’s main source of revenue, smuggling of crude oil (it drew from production facilities it had captured in Syria and Iraq),” a person familiar with the case India made at the open debate said. The collective effort also focussed on persuading Turkey to prevent its territory from being used for trading the crude for refined oil. “The success of collective action to denude IS is a pointer that the Council’s focussed attention can and does yield results,” the Indian permanent representative said. “A similar degree of interest in addressing the threats posed by proscribed individuals, such as Dawood Ibrahim and his D-Company, as well as proscribed entities, including the Jaish-e-Mohammad and Lashkar-e-Toiba, listed as affiliates of Al-Qaeda, under the 1267 sanctions regime, will serve all of us well.”

All three entities have been on the UNSC’s sanctions list for year now, recently joined by Masood Azhar, the founder head of JeM. India’s frustration over Pakistan is shared by a growing number of countries, and New Delhi will be hoping to tap into it to increase the pressure on Islamabad.

Akbaruddin did not name Pakistan, but as has become India’s practice at the United Nations in recent years, he left enough clues on the floor.