United Nations, June 2 The UN Security Council committees dealing with terrorism are without chairs halfway through the year because of Pakistan’s insistence on getting control of one or more of the three panels.
Mainly, the Western countries on the Council have opposed Pakistan becoming the chair of any of the panels – the Counterterrorism Committee, and the committees on sanctions against al-Qaeda and other terrorist actions, and the Taliban, according to diplomatic sources.
They said that the countries against Pakistan becoming the chair of any of the committees pointed out that Islamabad had a conflict of interest because it harboured terrorist organisations like the Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed, and its leaders, and had contentious relations with the Taliban ruling neighbouring Afghanistan.
Consensus governs many functions of the Council, and taking advantage of it, Pakistan, an elected member, is able to block the appointment of the chairs of the committees.
The discussions about these issues are held informally.
Greece’s Permanent Representative, Evangelos Sekeris, who was the President of the Council last month, conceded that it has not been possible to agree on the leadership of the panels, and said they were working on proposals for a solution.
Without chairs in place for the committees, the country holding the rotating presidency of the Council is the interim head of the panels.
If the chairs are not in place, Pakistan, which takes over the rotating presidency of the Council next month, will head the panels in July by default.
When India was on the Council from 2020 to 2022, it headed the Counter-Terrorism Committee, and India’s Permanent Representative Ruchira Kamboj even arranged for the panel to meet in Mumbai at the sites of the 26/11 terror attacks by Pakistan-based terrorists.
Pakistan, which cited India’s chairmanship of the Counterterrorism Committee, was ruled out as chair of the panel, the sources said.
The 1267 Committee, which gets its name from the Council’s resolution and deals with the affiliates of al-Qaeda and the Islamic State, posed a direct conflict of interest for Pakistan, where organisations and individuals sanctioned by it are based.
Pakistan is now insisting that it should at least get the chair of the 1988 Taliban Sanctions Committee, named for the number of the 2011 Council resolution on sanctions against the Taliban, according to the sources.
Pakistan, which has a contentious relationship with the Taliban, expects to use the chair of the committee – if it gets it - to influence Afghanistan.
It could then push for tightening sanctions or loosening them to manipulate the Taliban, which it has accused of giving sanctuary to forces operating against Pakistan.
As of now, Pakistan faces an uphill task in trying to clinch the deal because of its conflicts with the Taliban.
--IANS
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