India flays United Nations Security Council for being selective on terrorism

By Our Special Correspondent

India has criticized the United Nations Security Council for being selective in highlighting terrorism and demanded that there should be no double standards in combating terrorism.

We need political will to defeat terrorism, not justify and glorify terrorism. There should be no double standards in dealing with terrorists. Ruchira Kamboj, India's Permanent Representative to the United Nations said that labeling terrorism based on motivations should be avoided as it allows opportunistic forces to justify such actions.

She spoke after the United Nations Security Council's briefing on the threats to international peace and security caused by terrorist acts.

Effective functioning of sanctions committees requires them to be more transparent, accountable and objective. She called for an end to the practice of placing holds and blocks on listing requests without any justification.

Double standards and continuous politicization render the credibility of the sanctions regime at an all-time low. The links between terrorism and organized crime need to be addressed.

Ambassador Kamboj added that in India, we have first-hand experience of crime syndicates embarking on terror attacks and then receiving government hospitality in a neighboring country—such hypocrisy needs to be called out collectively.

India has also highlighted how it is constantly targeted by terrorist forces and how the UNSC selectively filters those suggestions. We find it puzzling that the Secretary-General's report has decided not to take up the activities of several banned groups in the region, particularly those that have repeatedly targeted India.

Selective filtering of inputs from member states was not called for, she added. She also said she hoped that future interactions from the SG's report would see inputs from all member states considered on an equal basis.

Earlier too, Islamabad's all-weather ally China had blocked bids by India and its allies to list Pakistan-based terrorists.