United Nations: Taking a tough stand in the wake of Mumbai terrorist attacks, India on Tuesday urged the UN Security Council to declare Jamaat-ud-Dawa, a front of the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT), as a terrorist outfit.
Jamaat-ud-Dawa is the public name of LeT, which was banned in 2002. India and the US have said that the LeT and its leaders were involved in the Mumbai terrorist attacks.
During the course of a debate at the Security Council on terrorism, Minister of State for External Affairs E Ahamed also asserted that the country, from where the terrorist attack originated and was planned, should take immediate steps to stop their operations.
"The Jamaat-ud-Dawa and other such organisations need to be proscribed internationally and effective sanctions imposed against them," Ahamed told the 15-member Security Council, which held a debate on 'Threats to international peace and security cause by terrorists'.
India in a letter on Friday had formally asked the Security Council to declare Jamaat-ud-Dawa as a terrorist outfit.
It also demanded that its leader Hafiz Mohammed Saeed be placed under the Security Council list of global terrorists. No other details of the letter was, however, immediately available.
The November 26 Mumbai terrorist attacks, which killed at least 172 people including 22 foreigners, dominated the proceedings of this special meeting of the Security Council, wherein member nations not only condemned the heinous attack, but also underlined the need to bring those responsible for it to justice.
PTI reports:
Ahamed while intervening in the debate on terrorism in the Security Council said the UN and international community must send a message to perpetrators of terrorist acts who must be brought to the book.
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The spokesman was asked to comment on demands from many fronts to declare Pakistan a terror state and for actions against it if Islamabad fails to take measures against terror outfits operating from its territory.
"I'm not going to comment on any actions, whether it's the UN or bilaterally, that we might take in the financial area. So, post facto, we can perhaps discuss them some more. I'm not trying to steer you one way or the other on these things," McCormack said.
However, the top official noted that Pakistan has taken "important and positive steps" by launching a crackdown on militant outfits like LeT.
"And we've seen a lot of news reports about steps taken by Pakistan over the past day or so. These are important and positive steps. I'm not going to get out ahead of Pakistani government commenting on the specifics of them, but as we understand them, these could potentially serve the cause of preventing further attacks, the last thing that either side needs," the senior state department official said.
"...Let me just try to convey to you the sense of various meetings the secretary (of state Condoleezza Rice) had on her recent trip to the region, both on the Pakistani side as well as the Indian side.
"And everybody in all the meetings wanted to focus on a couple who were responsible for these attacks were brought to justice and to do everything possible to prevent future attacks. That was very much the tone in the private meetings," he added.
The spokesman was asked to comment on reports in official Syrian publications and also a line taken by Iranian President Ahmedinejad that Zionists, Israel and perhaps even the US may have been responsible for the Mumbai attacks.
"I haven't seen the reports. I don't know which category to place them in. It's just, you know, just not true. We know who is responsible.... the attacks originated from Pakistani soil," McCormack replied.
(Inputs from PTI and IANS)
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