UN Security Council condemns Pulwama attack Wants attack organisers be made accountable

Jagan Nath Dhar  Editor Koshur Samachar

The strong UN Security Council condemnation of the Pulwama attack is a big indictment of Pakistan on terror. The resolution was adopted unanimously, overriding several objections raised by China. The resolution urges all states to cooperate with India on handling terrorism.

When the proposal, first, came up,

China insisted that the statement mention “Indian-administered Kashmir and not J&K, as desired by India. This was meant to act as a concession to Pakistan. China did not want JeM to be named. This was rejected by the UNSC members who, together, made the point that JeM was not just an organisation proscribed by UN but had taken responsibility for the attack.

Another Chinese objection was that there was no evidence against JeM to establish its involvement in the attack. India succeeded in convincing the members that JeM was based in Pakistan and it was from that country that it carried out its anti-India terror operations.

China, ultimately, fell in line in the face of the other 14 members. In the end, passing of the resolution, unanimously, was a show of international solidarity and support for India, at the United Nations. On February 21 last, the UNSC, condemned in the “strongest terms” the “heinous and cowardly” terror attack by Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Muhammad in Pulwama, Kashmir.

The Security Council, also stressed the need to hold organisers and financiers of such “reprehensible acts” accountable and to bring them to justice. A press statement, issued by the most powerful UN body, named the Pakistan-based terror group headed by Masood Azhar.

 “The members of the Security Council urged all States, in accordance with their obligations under international law and relevant Security Council resolutions, to cooperate actively with the Government of India and all other relevant authorities in this regard”.

The UNSC members expressed their deepest sympathy and condolences to the families of the victims, as well as to the Indian people and the government, and wished a speedy and full recovery to those who were injured.

 “They reaffirmed that terrorism in all its forms and manifestations constitutes one of the most serious threats to international peace and security,” the statement said.

The members also reiterated that any “acts of terrorism are criminal and unjustifiable, regardless of their motivation, wherever, whenever and by whomsoever committed”.

This condemnation came a day after Pakistan’s Permanent Representative to the UN Maleeha Lodhi met top UN leaders, including with Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and the Security Council President Anatolio Ndong Mba, briefing them about the escalating tensions in the region in the wake of the Pulwama attack.

In a major boost to India’s efforts to get Azhar on the list of global terrorists, France is expected to soon move a proposal at the UN to ban the head of the UN-proscribed group. The proposal, when moved, will be fourth such bid at the UN in past 10 years.

In 2009 and 2016, India moved the UN’s Sanctions Committee to ban Azhar, also the mastermind of attack on the air base in Pathankot in January 2016.

India was joined by the P3 nations — the US, the UK and France — in the 2016 proposal. In 2017 also, these P3 countries moved a similar proposal at the UN. However, China, using its veto power, has always blocked the proposal from being adopted by the UN.

Guterres, too strongly condemned the terror attack, in which 40 CRPF personnel were killed when a suicide bomber drove his explosives-laden vehicle into a CRPF bus, and called for those behind the attack to be brought to justice.

On February 20, Guterres reiterated his strong condemnation of the attack, stressing that it is essential there be accountability under international law and perpetrators of terrorist acts be brought swiftly to justice.

“The Secretary-General has been following with great concern the situation in South Asia. He reiterates his strong condemnation of the terrorist attack against Indian security forces in Pulwama” and the subsequent violence, a statement issued by his spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said.

He said it is “essential that there be accountability under international law and the perpetrators of terrorist acts be brought swiftly to justice”.

At the same time, Guterres “urgently” appealed to the governments of both India and Pakistan to exercise maximum restraint to ensure the situation does not further deteriorate.

“It is the belief of the Secretary-General that all difficult challenges can be resolved peacefully and satisfactorily through meaningful mutual engagement,” the statement added.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet, also, had strongly condemned the suicide bomb attack and called on authorities to bring those responsible to justice.

“The High Commissioner strongly condemns the suicide bomb attack against Indian security forces in Pulwama...and calls on authorities to bring those responsible to justice,” Rupert Colville, spokesperson for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), said in Geneva on February 19.

China, repeatedly, tried to block the statement from being issued. It did not want a reference to Jaish- e-Mohammed and wanted a reference to what it calls “India-administered Kashmir”. They also objected to the portion on “urging all states to cooperate actively with the Government of India”.

China, an “all weather” ally of Pakistan, has over the years used its veto power to scuttle a move by India at the UN to put Jaish-e-Mohammed founder Masood Azhar on a global terror list.

After the Pulwama attack, China had expressed "deep sympathies” to the families of the 40 CRPF men. In its condolence message to Indian Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj, the Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said that his country “resolutely opposes and strongly condemns all forms of terrorism”, but the statement did not make any reference to Pakistan.

 (Inputs from PTI, news reports and TV networks)

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Courtesy: Jagan Nath Dhar and March 2019, Koshur Samachar