Pakistan sees UNSC appointment as terror validation, PM Sharif calls it 'great pride'

Pakistan will chair the Taliban Sanctions Committee of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) in 2025 and serve as vice-chair of the Counter-Terrorism Committee of the 15-nation UN body. Pakistan PM Shehbaz Sharif has called it a “matter of great pride”. This is Pakistan's attempt to seek validation for harbouring terrorists on its soil. Islamabad is trying to hide its nefarious terror activities under the garb of chairing the UNSC Sanctions Committee.

However, Pakistan chairing the UNSC committee is no achievement as each Committee made up of the fifteen members of the UNSC, elects a chairperson from among the non-permanent Security Council members for a period of one year. The chairperson has a secretariat (a secretary and five to six staff members) and is part of the UN’s Department of Political Affairs (DPRK). Pakistan is a non-permanent member of the 15-nation Security Council for the 2025-26 term. India was chair of the UNSC Counter-terrorism Committee for 2022 during its 2021-22 tenure in the Council as a non-permanent member.

Taliban Sanctions Committee

Pakistan will chair the 1988 Taliban Sanctions Committee that imposes an assets freeze, a travel ban and an arms embargo on individuals, groups, undertakings and entities associated with the Taliban in constituting a threat to the peace, stability and security of Afghanistan. Guyana and Russia will be vice-chairs of the Taliban Sanctions Committee. Pakistan will also be co-chair of the Informal Working Groups on Documentation and Other Procedural Questions and on the General UNSC Sanctions Issues.

Other countries will also chair various committees

According to a list of chairs of the subsidiary bodies of the UNSC, Denmark will chair the 1267 ISIL and Al-Qaida Sanctions Committee of the UNSC, while Russia and Sierra Leone will be vice-chairs for 2025. Algeria will chair the 1373 Counter-Terrorism Committee, while France, Pakistan and Russia will be vice-chairs.

In elections held on Tuesday (June 3), five new non-permanent members of the UNSC were chosen by secret ballot for a 2-year term starting on January 1, 2026, until December 31, 2027. These are Bahrain, the Democratic Republic of the Congo,Liberia, Latvia and Colombia.