India slams ‘secrecy’ in UN panel

India has strongly criticised the lack of transparency in the functioning of the UN Security Council’s Sanctions Committee which took over a decade to blacklist

India has strongly criticised the lack of transparency in the functioning of the UN Security Council’s Sanctions Committee which took over a decade to blacklist Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar as a global terrorist. India’s criticism of the UN’s top organ came a month after getting Azhar blacklisted as a global terrorist by the the world body.

Members of the United Nations Security Council during a meeting at the UN headquarters in New York. (Reuters file photo)

India’s Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador, K Nagaraj Naidu said over the years “we have seen several such bodies being created and tasked with crucial responsibilities such as taking decisions on listing and delisting individuals and entities from the various sanctions regimes of the Council.” Naidu, speaking in the UN Security Council Thursday said that not only do these subsidiary bodies have varied and custom-made working methods, but they also follow obscure practices which do not find any legal basis.