'Hold Pakistan accountable for promoting terrorism': European think tank's plea to UN

A European think tank recently urged the United Nations to hold Pakistan accountable for promoting terrorism and failing to live up to its moral obligations towards its own people and the international community. During an intervention at the ongoing 46th session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, UK PM Boris Johnson noted that following the growing diplomatic pressure from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), Pakistan arrested Hafiz Sayeed and Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, two UN-designated terrorists. However, Johnson called the arrests “sham” and said that Pakistan’s move was not driven by a genuine attempt to combat terrorism. 

The UK PM also added that the arrests exemplified Pakistan’s “double-edged approach” towards terrorist activities. He said, “Terrorism is patronised when strategically useful but opposed when it targets Pakistani interests. This is the most apparent in Afghanistan, where Pakistan will now have to adapt to an at least partially Taliban-led government”. 

According to ANI, the FATF has already announced that Pakistan will continue to remain on its grey list due to failure to comply with all the points of a plan of action set by it to combat terror financing. The Global terror watchdog said that there had been serious deficiency on the part of Pakistan in checking terror financing. It added that here it will continue to remain on the “increased monitoring list”. 

‘US-Taliban deal has shifted focus towards Pak’ 

During the UNHRC session, Aaron Magunna, the research analyst at the European Foundation for South Asian Studies, said that an end to violence is unlikely to materialise through the Afghan Peace Agreement. He said that rather, the US-Taliban deal has shifted the focus towards Pakistan as a safe haven for even more terrorists and terrorist organisations. Megunna also went on to say that the regained straight of the Pakistani Taliban and recent attacks by ISKP in Pakistan illustrate this. 

Magunna added, “The current situation is a natural outcome of the well-oiled infrastructure for terror created over decades by the Pakistani Army and its intelligence agencies and Islamabad's consistent distinction between good and bad terrorists”. 

“To be clear: this strategy has yielded no benefits for the political and economic wellbeing of Pakistan and the wider region. Until the Pakistani Army abandons this deeply entrenched way of operating, however, this situation will not change,” he said. Further, the research analyst concluded that terrorism inherently undermines the promotion and protection of human rights while urging the Council to hold Islamabad accountable for failing to live up to its legal and moral obligations towards its own people and the international community. 

(With inputs from ANI)