‘Something seriously wrong’: India slams China for blocking UNSC listing of Sajid Mir as terrorist

India slammed China for indulging in "petty geopolitical interests" after it blocked New Delhi and Washington’s joint proposal to list Lashkar-e-Taiba's Sajid Mir as a global terrorist.

In a sharply worded statement at the United Nations counter-terror meeting, Indian diplomat Prakash Gupta said “something is seriously wrong” with the global anti-terrorism architecture that despite getting co-sponsored from various member countries, the proposal couldn’t pass the key hurdle.

"If we cannot get established terrorists who have been banned across global landscapes proscribed by the United Nations — for petty geopolitical interests —then we really do not have the genuine political will to sincerely fight this challenge of terrorism," said Gupta, Joint Secretary, UN Political at Ministry of External Affairs.

Without naming China, he urged the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) members to close some critical gaps and “avoid double standards and this self-defeating justification of good terrorists vs bad terrorists.”

“A terror act is a terror act, period. Any justification being used should not be countenanced upon by anybody,” he added.

China had put a technical hold on the proposal in September last year after India and the United States submitted a proposal to the United Nations Security Council’s (UNSC) 1267 Al Qaeda Sanctions Committee to designate Mir, who is wanted for his involvement in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, which killed 166 people and injured over 300.

On Tuesday, China effectively blocked a proposal to designate the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorist Sajid Mir as a global terrorist. For a proposal to be adopted, it needs consensus from all the member countries.

Had the proposal been passed to list Mir as a global terrorist, he would have been subjected to assets freeze, travels ban and arms embargo.

Mir, who is believed to be in the mid-40s, is wanted for his role in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks. The US had placed a $5 million bounty on his head.

In June last year, the terrorist was jailed for over 15 years in a terror-financing case by an anti-terrorism court in Pakistan.

It is believed that the Pakistan officials acted as it wanted the country to be removed from the grey list of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).