Hitting hard at countries that have been blocking the expansion of United Nations Security Council in both the permanent and non-permanent categories, India on Thursday dared such nations to schedule a straw poll in the UN General Assembly to prove that they had the numbers.
The United States welcomes India as a rising power and backs its inclusion as a permanent member of a reformed and expanded United Nations Security Council, Secretary of State John Kerry has said ahead of his maiden visit to New Delhi.
India on Wednesday said Pakistan has not responded to its consistent demand for handing over underworld don Dawood Ibrahim and others fugitives."We have consistently asked Pakistan to hand over Ibrahim and others to us. The demand has been made in 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007.... But, unfortunately there has been no response from Pakistan so far," Minister of State for External Affairs Preneet Kaur said in the Lok Sabha.
Lashkar-e-Taiba is still active and trying its best to increase the tension between India and Pakistan, a top United Nations official mandated to monitor the Security Council sanctions against Al-Qaeda, Taliban and other terrorist groups said on Wednesday.
The Pakistan government filed an appeal against the release of Jamaat-ud Dawah chief Hafeez Mohammad Saeed in the country's Supreme Court on Friday. Saeed, who was held under house arrest after the United Nations Security Council banned the Jamaat, declaring it as a front for terrorist outfit Lashkar-e-Tayiba, was released by the Lahore High Court on June 2. Saeed, the founder of the LeT, is widely considered to be the mastermind of the terror attack on Mumbai.
Pakistan is making efforts at multiple levels for the Taliban government to have a soft landing, observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Pakistani authorities have detained more than 60 leaders of the outlawed Jamaat-ud-Dawah though no evidence linking them to the Mumbai attacks has been found so far, the interior ministry said on Friday. Intelligence and security agencies have detained the Jamaat leaders, including its chief Hafiz Mohammed Saeed, as part of the ongoing crackdown on the group designated as a terrorist outfit by the United Nations Security Council. Nothing incriminating has been found.
Jamaat-ud_Dawa chief Hafiz Mohammed Saeed, designated as a terrorist by the United Nations Security Council in the wake of the Mumbai attacks, and other militant leaders detained by Pakistani authorities cannot be tried in the absence of solid evidence against them, Defence Minister Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar said on Wednesday. The government had recently launched a crackdown against militant groups, including the JuD.
Syed Firdaus Ashraf/Rediff.com presents the names of 10 global terrorists who, according to United Nations Security Council, are operating against India from Pakistan.
'An in-principle decision has been taken to take the issue of Kashmir to the International Court of Justice'
Specially designated global terrorist Sirajuddin Haqqani, who carries a reward of $10 million US bounty on his head, is the acting interior minister while his uncle -- Khalil Haqqani -- has been named as acting minister for refugees.
The ministers, including Krishna, also reaffirmed their commitment to multilateralism and to increased participation of developing countries in the decision-making bodies of multilateral organizations and institutions.
Diplomats said that France, whose original draft is being opposed by Moscow, is working on fresh resolution that would try to harmonize the two opposing drafts even as most members stressed the need to have resolution, which could be adopted unanimously.
"The United States believes that the long-term legitimacy and viability of the UN Security Council depends on its reflecting the world of the 21st century," said Gordon Duguid, the State Department Acting Deputy Spokesman, onThursday.
The United Nations Security Council held a close door meeting to discuss the situation after the junta government in Myanmar extended the house arrest of the country's democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi. The meeting was held at the request of France, which condemned Tuesday's verdict of a Myanmar court convicting the 64-year-old leader for breaching the terms of her detention. "The verdict is in clear violation and breach of the request made by the Security Council," UNSC said.
The United Nations Security Council's sanctions committee has not received any petition from Pakistan-based Jamaat-ud-Dawa, a front for Lashkar-e-Tayiba, to reconsider the decision declaring it as a terrorist group, a top official said on Thursday. Reports from Pakistan had said that the JUD is appealing the decision but Coordinator of Al Qaeda and Taliban Sanctions Monitoring Committee Richard Barrett said no such petition has been received.
The Council adopted the resolution proposed by France, the United Kingdom and the United States with 13 Council members voting in favour and Russia and China abstaining.
"There was a resolution in the United Nations Security Council. If Pakistan had not taken steps under that, then they could have declared Pakistan a terrorist state. They could have crippled Pakistan's economy," Defence Minister Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar said.
The United Nations Security Council has placed sanctions on Pakistan-based Jamaat-ud-Dawa, the front organisation of banned Lashkar-e-Tayiba, declaring it a terrorist organisation.Four top leaders of LeT including Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, Haji Muhammad Ashraf and Zaki-ur-Bahaziq have also been declared as terrorists by the UNSC.Imposing the sanctions, the Council asked all member states to freeze their assets and impose travel ban and arms embargo.
United States President-elect Joseph Biden has always been a strong supporter of India and India-US partnership since his days in Senate and later as a Vice-President.
A defiant North Korea on Friday test-fired another short-range missile and warned of more 'self- defence counter-measures' if 'hypocrites' in the United Nations Security Council slapped sanctions on it for this week's nuclear test. North Korea launched a new type short-range missile with an estimated range of 160 km from its Musudan-ri rocket launch site on its east coast, a South Korean official said.
Analysts suggest that with the Indo-US nuclear deal in limbo, New Delhi could be balancing foreign policy with an eye to the polls. They say that India's sharp response to the US State Department's 'advice' on Iran was one such move. While some felt the response was a case of dangerous over-reaction, others said it was merely an act of diplomacy where relations with other countries, particularly the US, are balanced to suit India's interests.
India is hopeful of getting the non-permanent Asian seat in the United Nations Security Council, said Minister of state for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor on Friday.
Welcoming President Pratibha Patil on her three-day state visit to this Latin American country, Chilean President Michelle Bachelet said India should become a permanent member of the UN Security Council. She said that Chile wanted a more transparent Security Council. The comments from the Chilean President came after the signing of four agreements with the visiting President.The two leaders discussed international affairs during their one-to-one meeting.
Criticising the UPA government for its soft approach towards terrorism, Bharatiya Janata Party president Rajnath Singh on Tuesday alleged that the Central government has neither a policy nor the political will to deal with the menace.
The PM also welcomed South Korea's efforts to maintain peace and stability of the Korean Peninsula.
Pakistan on Thursday said it was "disturbed" by reports that India could be preparing for additional nuclear tests and hoped a unilateral moratorium on testing would remain in place in the region.
"We have a strong view that there should be Security Council reform of the United Nations, that the Security Council should reflect the modern world, which is why we've suggested that both India and Japan should become permanent members of a reformed United Nations Security Council," the Australian foreign minister said.
Russia has consistently supported Iran's right to civilian nuclear energy under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, and is building a nuclear power plant for the Islamic nation in Bushehr.
The move comes after United States President Donald Trump accused Islamabad of giving nothing to the US but "lies and deceit" and providing "safe haven" to terrorists.
Russia and Georgia accused each other of triggering the latest conflict in the breakaway South Ossestia province as the United Nations Security Council's emergency session on the issue failed to come out with a statement seeking ceasefire between the warring sides.
The United States should support India's bid for a permanent United Nations Security Council seat and work actively for the expansion of the top multilateral body, former American diplomat Karl Inderfurth said on Thursday."It is time for the US to publicly support India's bid for a permanent seat on the UN Security Council and to work actively with India and others to accomplish the goal of expansion of the UNSC," he said.
"There is no denying the fact that we voted against Iran at IAEA. The intention was to ensure that its nuclear issue does not go to the Security Council as it would entail sanctions and more problems," External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee said while rejecting allegations that India's foreign policy was being affected by the Indo-US nuclear deal.
Unlike United States President George W Bush, former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev on Wednesday hailed the growth of food consumption in India and China as he sought expansion of the United Nations Security Council to include some 'most important states' to address the global food crisis. "we need to rejoice that millions of people are coming out of poverty and can afford a normal diet. Our planet is capable of feeding them," he said.
The proposal is the fourth such bid at the UN in the last 10 years to list Azhar as a global terrorist.
India, which has shipped 'Made In India' COVID-19 vaccines to around 25 nations, on Wednesday urged the international community to stop 'vaccine nationalism' and actively encourage 'internationalism', underlining that hoarding superfluous doses will defeat global efforts to attain collective health security and combat the pandemic.
"Our mission in New York (at the UN headquarters) is trying to break the long-standing deadlock over reform, and we will continue with our efforts to persuade Governments that India should have a permanent seat on the Security Council -- alongside Brazil, Japan and Germany, and that there should be representation from Africa," Minister for the Middle East Kim Howells told Labour lawmaker Ashok Kumar in the House of Commons in London on Wednesday.
India on its part pointed out that the paper does not have the core elements of the position of the Group of Four comprising India, Japan, Germany and Brazil or have a "categorical and unambiguous" formulation on expanding the permanent membership of the council, diplomats said. India also said the paper does not have a formulation on increasing the representation of developing countries.
The Russian ambassador clashed with American and Georgian envoys in a meeting of the United Nations Security Council as he rejected a new draft on South Ossetia conflict circulated by France, saying it was 'one-sided'.Rejecting the draft, Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said, "Russia is explicitly complying with the six principles proclaimed in the Kremlin on August 12. We and the whole international community need the support of the Security Council."
Britain has backed India for a permanent seat in the United Nations Security Council to make the world body more credible and effective.
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