Par panel urges govt to work for ‘de-politicisation’ of UNSC sanctions regime on listing of terrorists

NEW DELHI: A parliamentary standing committee on Monday called on the government to make persistent efforts to ensure “de-politicisation” of the UN Security Council’s sanctions regime on the listing of terrorists and terror entities even as it noted that India remains a recruitment target for global terror groups such as Al-Qaeda and ISIS.

The report by the panel on external affairs came against the backdrop of China blocking the listing of a number of Pakistan-based terrorists by the United Nations Security Council’s sanctions committee.

The committee noted that the problem of terrorism in India is largely sponsored from across the border as terrorist outfits are provided safe havens, material support, finance and other logistics by Pakistan’s spy agency ISI to carry out terrorist activities.

It recommended that an action plan or mechanism may be worked out at the earliest for effective sharing of resources, capacity enhancement and pooling of available expertise of the central agencies as well as coordinated global efforts to root out terrorist networks in the “neighbouring countries”.

It said the government should work in close coordination with the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and other bodies to bring about qualitative improvement in the regulatory capacity so that terror entities do not get new opportunities for financing terrorism.

The committee said effective implementation of the UN Security Council’s sanctions regime can be a major tool in countering the activities of terrorists and terrorist groups by restricting their travel and suppressing their funding avenues.

On the need for “de-politicisation” of the sanctions regime, the committee said an evidence-based listing and delisting mechanism with greater transparency would be effective in combating terrorism.