Petty Geopolitical Interests: India Slams China Move On Pak-Based Terrorist

India on Wednesday tore into China after it blocked a proposal at the United Nations to label Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorist Sajid Mir - wanted for his involvement in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, a global terrorist.

Speaking at the United Nation's counter-terror meeting, Prakash Gupta, Joint Secretary, UN Political at the Ministry of External Affairs said if established terrorists cannot be proscribed by the United Nations for petty geopolitical interests, it shows a lack of genuine political will to sincerely fight the challenge of terrorism.

"We have righteous reasons to believe that something is genuinely wrong with the global counter-terrorism architecture. 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," Gupta said while addressing the United Nations counter-terror meeting.

Slamming China, India said there was a need to avoid double standards and classifying terrorists as good and bad.

"A terror act is a terror act. Period. Any justification being used should not be countenanced upon by anybody," Gupta said, adding that the sanctions regime itself needed to be looked at.

On Wednesday, China blocked the proposal that had been moved by the US and co-designated by India to blacklist Mir under the 1267 Al Qaeda Sanctions Committee of the UN Security Council as a global terrorist and subject him to assets freeze, travel ban and arms embargo.

Reportedly, China had put a hold on the proposal to designate Mir at the UN in Spetember last year.

China has repeatedly put a hold on proposals to blacklist Pakistan-based terrorists under the sanctions committee of the UN Security Council.

Who is Sajid Mir

Sajid Mir is one of India's most wanted terrorists for his involvement in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks. He has a bounty of USD 5 million placed on his head by the United States.

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