Even as Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to lead a special yoga session at the United Nations headquarters in New York, the Indian government denounced China's move to block their proposal at the UN to designate Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorist Sajid Mir, wanted for his involvement in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, as a global terrorist.
In an official statement, India said if the proposal to blacklist the terrorist did not get through despite several member states co-sponsoring it, "we have righteous reasons to believe that something is genuinely wrong with the global counter-terrorism architecture".
India and the US had jointly moved the proposal to blacklist Sajid Mir under the 1267 Al Qaeda Sanctions Committee of the UN Security Council as a global terrorist and subject him to an assets freeze, a travel ban and an arms embargo.
"If we cannot get established terrorists who have been banned across global landscapes proscribed by the United Nations – for petty geopolitical interests – then we really do NOT have the genuine political will to sincerely fight this challenge of terrorism," New Delhi asserted.
China yesterday blocked a proposal by India and the US at the United Nations to designate Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorist Sajid Mir, wanted for his involvement in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, as a global terrorist.
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.
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 was LeT's operations manager for the attacks, playing a leading role in their planning, preparation, and execution," the US State Department has said.
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.
(With PTI inputs)