China blocks India's move seeking UN action against Pakistan on Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi
United Nations: China has blocked India's move in the UN demanding action against Pakistan over release of Mumbai attack mastermind and LeT commander Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi in violation of a resolution of the world body as it contended that India provided insufficient information.
As the UN Sanctions Committee met here at India's request, a clarification was to be sought from Pakistan over Lakhvi's release in the 26/11 trial but the Chinese representatives blocked the move on grounds that India did not provide sufficient information, official sources said.
In a letter to the current Chair of the UN Sanctions Committee Jim McLay, India's Permanent Representative to the UN Asoke Mukherjee last month had said Lakhvi's release by a Pakistani court was in violation of the 1267 UN resolution dealing with designated entities and individuals.
The sanctions measures apply to designated individuals and entities associated with terror groups including al-Qaeda and LeT, wherever located. The sanctions' committee has five permanent and 10 non-permanent UN member states in it.
The release of Lakhvi had also raised concerns in the US, UK, Russia, France and Germany with Washington calling for him to be re-arrested. Lakhvi and six others, Abdul Wajid, Mazhar Iqbal, Hamad Amin Sadiq, Shahid Jameel Riaz, Jamil Ahmed and Younis Anjum have been charged with planning and executing the Mumbai attack in November, 2008 that left 166 people dead.
Lakhvi, 55, a close relative of LeT founder and Jamaat-Ud Dawa (JuD) chief Hafiz Saeed, was arrested in December 2008 and was indicted along with the six others on November 25, 2009 in connection with the 26/11 attack case. The trial has been underway since 2009.
A Pakistani court had on April 9 set free Lakhvi, a development, which India said "eroded" the value of assurances repeatedly conveyed to it by Pakistan on cross-border terrorism. Mukerji also made a strong case for re-evaluating the drawdown of international troops from Afghanistan given the deteriorating security situation.
Read: 26/11 mastermind Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi walks free from Pakistan jail
"Given the critical phase that the political transition has entered, and the deteriorating security situation, we feel there is a strong case for the international community to take a fresh look at the manner in which the drawdown of the international military presence in Afghanistan is being planned out," he said.
He said "exceptional steps" taken by the Afghan president to launch a reconciliation process are "sadly" being repeatedly rebuffed by the Taliban and its supporters.
"India will continue to support a truly Afghan-led and
Afghan-owned reconciliation process within the framework of the Afghan constitution and the internationally accepted red lines," he added.
He told the Security Council meeting that India has indicated its willingness to join an expanded PATTTA (Pakistan, Afghanistan, Tajikistan Trade and Transit Agreement).
India is also working with the Government of Iran to see how the Chahbahar Port in Iran can be used to provide Afghanistan with an alternate access to the sea route.
New Delhi has unilaterally offered Kabul access to the facilities of the Integrated Check Post at Attari on the Wagah-Attari border crossing point on the India-Pakistan international border.
