Pakistan slams UN after US blocks Khurasani’s sanctioning

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has criticised the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) sanctions committee for not putting the name of banned Jamaatul Ahrar (JuA) leader Umar Khalid Khurasani on the sanctions list, with reports saying that the United States was behind blocking Pakistan’s request on Khurasani.

Although Pakistan has not been informed of the development yet, the Foreign Office has informally learnt that the process has been halted because of an objection by the United States, a senior diplomatic source revealed. The US objected to Pakistani request for Khurasani’s listing because of his location that has been mentioned as Afghanistan.

“We are deeply disappointed…Khurasani has the blood of hundreds of innocent Pakistanis on his hands,” Foreign Office (FO) Spokesman Dr Mohammad Faisal said during the weekly briefing on Thursday. “If the organisation, JuA, has been listed by the sanctions committee, its leader should also have been listed.”

The FO spokesman also highlighted that this action was one of the many examples of the international double standards regarding the fight against terrorism.

He said that the sacrifices rendered by Pakistan against terrorism were taken for granted.

“The sanctions committee did not approve Pakistan’s request to list Umar Khalid Khurasani alias Abdul Wali since it could not reach a consensus due to disagreement by a member,” said the spokesperson.

“[But] the committee has not yet formally conveyed this development to us,” he added.

“The Americans inject politics into the sanctions regime and practice double standards. They are not listing the leader of a terrorist entity who is targeting Pakistan. Merely because he is operating from Afghanistan,” a Pakistani official was quoted as saying.

“Instead of supporting Pakistani request for listing a terrorist, the US raised an objection. The US needs to act fairly to root out terrorism. Such actions by the US undermine the credibility of the UN sanctions list,” he added. Pakistan had made the request almost nine months ago as Khurasani was the leader of JuA that had been listed earlier on Pakistan’s request on July 6, 2017 with its base identified as Lalpura, in Nangarhar province of Afghanistan.

In 2017, JuA was listed by the sanctions committee. The Afghanistan-based organisation has been involved in a series of terrorist attacks in Pakistan. Originally a Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) faction that split away, the group came on the map in 2014 after claiming responsibility for the Wagah border suicide attack.

Up till now, the group has been behind 116 brutal terrorist attacks on Pakistan.

The Consolidated United Nations Security Council Sanctions List, categorises the JuA as a splinter TTP group “associated with Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL)” aka Daesh.

The UNSC list also mentions JuA was banned in Pakistan on November 21, 2016.