Vowing to take firm action against those involved in Mumbai attacks, Pakistan told the UN Security Council (UNSC) on Tuesday that it would proscribe Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD), the front organisation of the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), should the council decide to put sanctions on the group for being associated with terrorism.
“After the designation of the JuD under the Security Council resolution 1267, the government, on receiving communication from the Security Council, shall proscribe the JuD and take other consequential actions, as required, including the freezing of assets,” Pakistan’s UN ambassador Abdullah Hussain Haroon said in the course of a council debate on ‘Threats to international peace and security caused by terrorists’.
Other actions outlined by Haroon, according to an APP report from New York, included a plan for effective government supervision as required for various welfare organisations.
He said an intelligence-led operation was already underway to arrest the individuals allegedly involved in the Mumbai attacks. No training camps for the Lashkar-e-Toiba or any other such entity would be allowed on the Pakistani territory.
“The above measures, which are in process, constitute further proof of Pakistan’s determination to take action and not to allow its territory to be used for terrorism,” he added.
Haroon spoke after India demanded that the United Nations ban the JuD, calling it a front organisation of the LeT for its involvement in the Mumbai strikes.
“We have requested the Security Council to proscribe the Pakistani group JuD since it is a terrorist outfit,” Indian minister of state for external affairs E. Ahamed said in the debate. “All those who were in any way responsible for the Mumbai terrorist attacks, wherever they
may be, should be brought to justice,” he said.
Haroon said both Pakistan and India were victims of terrorism, and suggested that the best response to such acts was for both countries to cooperate more closely in efforts to combat the scourge and to resolve the decades-old conflict in Kashmir.
He assured the council that Pakistan was not involved in the attacks in any way and was taking action against extremist groups who sought, in any way, to destroy the peace of the country and its neighbours.
He said he was deeply troubled by the events in Mumbai, as well as, a few days later, similar violence in Peshawar, in his own country, which he said showed the common experience of all states that were victims of terrorism. President Asif Zardari has pledged to bring to justice anyone found to have been involved in those attacks, he added.
