Iran Is An Ever More 'Relevant' Problem, Nuclear Watchdog Chief Says

VIENNA, Oct 28: Iran is a problem that is ever more "relevant", the U.N. nuclear watchdog's chief, Rafael Grossi, said on Friday, in an apparent reference to the growing number of advanced centrifuges the Islamic Republic is using to enrich uranium.

The International Atomic Energy Agency has said in recent confidential reports to member states seen by Reuters that Iran has been installing and enriching with more cascades, or clusters, of advanced centrifuges at its underground enrichment plants at Natanz and Fordow.

At the same time, indirect talks with the United States on reviving a largely hollowed-out 2015 nuclear deal with Iran are stalled, with officials saying one important sticking point has been Iran's demand that the IAEA end an investigation into uranium traces found at undeclared sites.

Asked in an on-stage discussion in Washington how he sees the world today, Grossi started with Iran rather than Ukraine and said it "continues to be a problem".

"I see every day through my inspectors how this problem is getting more and more relevant, and I'm choosing a word which is neutral. It's an even more relevant problem every day," Grossi told the Carnegie International Nuclear Policy Conference, without elaborating.

He added later that he would not cave to political pressure over his investigation of the uranium traces and his efforts to obtain explanations from Iran on how they came to be there.

"I will never do anything in the verification area under political pretences or for political reasons. The IAEA has to do what it has to do. I say it here publicly and I've said it to my Iranian counterparts many times when they request that we look elsewhere."

Beijing, Pak protecting terrorists

MUMBAI, Oct 28: India on Friday targeted Pakistan for protecting the planners of the 2008 Mumbai attacks and criticised China for blocking the listing of terrorists at the UN, with external affairs minister S Jaishankar saying decades of cross-border terror will not weaken the country’s commitment to fight back.

India’s stance received strong support from US secretary of state Antony Blinken, who said all countries are responsible for bringing the perpetrators of the carnage in Mumbai to justice. He added no nation should stand in the way of joint India-US proposals to designate terrorists at the UN Security Council.

Addressing an informal session of the UN Security Council’s Counter-Terrorism Committee (CTC) at the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel in Mumbai, Jaishankar said those behind the Mumbai attacks “remain protected and unpunished”, whereas India captured and convicted one of the 10 attackers.

Blinken, who addressed the gathering via a video message after Jaishankar, said allowing the architects of the Mumbai attacks to go unpunished will send a message to terrorists around the world that their crimes will be tolerated.

Though Jaishankar and Blinken didn’t name any countries in their remarks, there was little doubt they were referring to Pakistan and China.

Following the Mumbai attacks, Pakistan arrested seven Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) operatives, including the group’s operations commander Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, but their trial has made little progress. Since June this year, China has blocked five India-US proposals to sanction Pakistan-based terrorist leaders at the UN Security Council.

“In another month, we will be observing the 14th anniversary of these ghastly attacks on Mumbai in November 2008. While one of the terrorists was captured alive, prosecuted and convicted by the highest court in India, the key conspirators and planners of the 26/11 attacks continue to remain protected and unpunished,” Jaishankar said.

“When it comes to proscribing some of these terrorists, the Security Council has regrettably been unable to act in some cases because of political considerations. This undermines our collective credibility and our collective interests,” he said.

“We, in India, understand [terrorism’s] cost more than others. But with that experience comes the steeling of national resolve. Decades of cross-border terror has not and will not weaken our commitment to fight back,” he added.

Jaishankar noted that even as the Mumbai attacks were underway, the UN Security Council met on November 28, 2008 and “underlined the need to bring perpetrators, organisers, financiers, and sponsors of these reprehensible acts of terrorism to justice and urged all states to cooperate with the Indian authorities”.

“We must rise above our political differences to address this scourge. The battle against terrorism must be fought resolutely at all fronts, all situations and all places,” he added.

Blinken noted six American citizens were among the 166 people killed in the Mumbai attacks and said it is necessary to do more than just mourn the victims.

“We have a responsibility to the victims and to people everywhere to bring to justice the perpetrators of the Mumbai attacks, including their masterminds. That’s what the US has been working to do, together with India and other partners for the last 14 years because when we allow the architects of these attacks to go unpunished, we send a message to terrorists everywhere that their heinous crimes will be tolerated,” he said.

Many members of the Security Council adopted sanctions against the terrorists behind the Mumbai attacks but such efforts are more effective if there is joint action, Blinken said. “Which is why we worked with India to put forward nominations to designate several terrorists through the UN 1267 [Sanctions] Committee. All relevant parties should support these designations. No nation should stand in their way,” he said.

The losses of the Mumbai attacks should be a “reminder to all of us of our unfinished work in holding accountable the perpetrators of its horrors and averting future terrorist attacks”, Blinken said.

India is currently in the final months of a two-year stint as a non-permanent member of the Security Council and it is also the chair of the CTC till December. It is hosting a special meeting of the CTC – only the eighth time such a meet has been held outside the UN headquarters in New York – and the formal session in New Delhi on Saturday will focus on countering the use of new technologies by terrorists.

The informal session in Mumbai began with a video on the Mumbai attacks and testimonies of some survivors, such as Devika Rotawan, who was shot and injured at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, Moshe Holtzberg, who was two years old when the terrorists stormed Chabad House and killed members of his family, and Karambir Kang, who was general manager of the Taj Hotel at the time of the attack and lost his wife and two sons. Former air hostess Nidhi Chaphekar, who was seriously injured in a terrorist bombing at Brussels airport in March 2016, also addressed the gathering.

The theme for the informal session was “Countering financing of terrorism in the local and regional context” and Jaishankar described money as the “lifeblood of terrorism”. He made five recommendations to counter terror financing, including sustained efforts at the UN in collaboration with platforms such as the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), and transparent functioning of the Security Council sanctions regime while ensuring that they are not made ineffective for political reasons.

He called for concerted action against terrorists and their sponsors, including dismantling of terror safe havens, sanctuaries, training grounds and financial, ideological and political support structures, and multilateral efforts to break terrorism’s nexus with transnational organised crime.

Jaishankar said terror groups were exploiting the anonymity afforded by emerging technologies such as virtual currencies for fundraising and finances, and the CTC should provide innovative solutions.

Blinken said preventing future attacks requires addressing emerging threats such as the increasing abuse of the internet to finance and plan attacks, store assets and recruit members. The US is working with the private sector to address these vulnerabilities and getting financial technology companies to enforce policies to prevent their illicit use and ensuring online platforms do not host terrorist content and spread hate, he said.

UK foreign secretary James Cleverly told the gathering that three UK nationals were among the victims of the Mumbai attacks, and Britain is determined to honour the UN Security Council’s pledge of 14 years ago to combat all forms of terrorism. “We are here because we know that counter-terrorism cooperation must continue to adapt and to evolve to match the new threats and emerging technologies,” he added.

The session was also addressed by Gabon foreign minister Michael Moussa Adamo, whose country is the current president of the Security Council, Ghana foreign minister Shirley Ayorkar Botchwey, UAE minister of state for international cooperation Reem Ebrahim Al Hashimy, Vladimir Tarabrin, the special representative of the Russian foreign minister for counter-terrorism, France’s special envoy for counter-terrorism Olivier Caron, Ireland ambassador Brendan Ward, Kenya high commissioner Willy Bett, Mexican ambassador Frederico Salas Lotfe, and China’s vice consul general in Mumbai, Wang Yanhua.

Diplomats and senior officials from Brazil, Malta, Mozambique, Ecuador, Japan, Switzerland and UN under secretary general Vladimir Voronkov also spoke, with most of them focusing on the need to counter terror financing.

China Puts On Hold India, US' Move At UN To Blacklist Hafiz Saeed's Son

UNITED NATIONS, Oct 19: China on Wednesday put a hold on a proposal by India and the US at the United Nations to blacklist Pakistan-based terrorist Hafiz Talah Saeed, the son of Lashkar-e-Taiba chief Hafiz Saeed, in the second such move within two days.

Hafiz Talha Saeed, 46, is a key leader of terrorist group LeT and the son of 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks mastermind Hafiz Saeed.

In April this year, he had been declared a terrorist by the Indian government.

It is learnt that China placed the hold on the proposal to add Hafiz Talah Saeed under the 1267 Al Qaeda Sanctions Committee of the UN Security Council.

It is the second time in less than two days that Beijing put a hold on the bid submitted by India and the US to designate a Pakistan-based terrorist as a global terrorist.

In a notification, India's Home Ministry had said that Hafiz Talha Saeed has been actively involved in recruitment, fund collection, and planning and executing attacks by the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) in India and Indian interests in Afghanistan.

He has also been actively visiting various LeT centres across Pakistan, and during his sermons propagating for jihad against India, Israel, the United States of America and Indian interests in other western countries, it had stated.

Hafiz Talha Saeed is a senior leader of the LeT and is the head of the cleric wing of the terrorist organisation.

China on Tuesday put a hold on a proposal by India and the US at the United Nations to list Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba leader Shahid Mahmood as a global terrorist.

Beijing placed a hold on the proposal by India and the US to designate Mahmood, 42, as a global terrorist under the 1267 Al Qaeda Sanctions Committee of the UN Security Council.

The US Department of Treasury had designated Mahmood as well as another LeT leader Muhammad Sarwar in December 2016 as part of the action "to disrupt LeT's fundraising and support networks."

According to information on the US Department of the Treasury's website, Mahmood "has been a longstanding senior LeT member based in Karachi, Pakistan, and has been affiliated with the group since at least 2007. As early as June 2015 through at least June 2016, Mahmood served as the vice chairman of Falah-i-Insaniat Foundation (FIF), a humanitarian and fundraising arm of LeT."

In 2014, Mahmood was the leader of FIF in Karachi. In August 2013, Mahmood was identified as a LeT publications wing member, the website said.

"Mahmood was previously part of LeT's overseas operations team led by Sajjid Mir....Additionally, in August 2013, Mahmood was instructed to forge covert links with Islamic organizations in Bangladesh and Burma, and as of late 2011, Mahmood claimed that LeT's primary concern should be attacking India and America," the US Department of Treasury said.

This is the fifth time in four months that China has put a hold on listing proposals to designate Pakistan-based terrorists under the 1267 Al Qaeda Sanctions Committee regime.

In June this year, China put a hold, at the last moment, on a joint proposal by India and the US to blacklist Pakistan-based terrorist Abdul Rehman Makki under the 1267 Al-Qaida Sanctions Committee of the UN Security Council. Makki is a US-designated terrorist and brother-in-law of Hafiz Saeed.

New Delhi and Washington had put in a joint proposal to designate Makki as a global terrorist under the 1267 ISIL and Al Qaida Sanctions Committee of the UN Security Council but Beijing placed a hold on this proposal at the last minute.

Then in August, China again put a hold on a proposal by the US and India to blacklist Abdul Rauf Azhar, the senior leader of Pakistan-based terror organisation Jaish-e-Mohammed (JEM).

Azhar, born in 1974 in Pakistan, had been sanctioned by the US in December 2010. The US Department of Treasury had in December 2010 designated "Abdul Rauf Azhar for acting for or on behalf of JEM."

The US said as a senior leader of JeM, Abdul Rauf Azhar "has urged Pakistanis to engage in terrorist activities. He has served as JEM's acting leader in 2007, as one of JEM's most senior commanders in India, and as JEM's intelligence coordinator. In 2008 Azhar was assigned to organise suicide attacks in India. He was also involved with JEM's political wing and has served as a JEM official involved with training camps."

In September, Beijing put a hold on a proposal moved at the United Nations by the US and co-supported by India to designate Lashkar-e-Tayyiba terrorist Sajid Mir, wanted for his involvement in the 26/11 Mumbai terrorist attacks, as a global terrorist.

Mir is one of India's most wanted terrorists and has a bounty of USD5 million placed on his head by the US for his role in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks.

In June this year, he was jailed for over 15 years in a terror-financing case by an anti-terrorism court in Pakistan, which is struggling to exit the grey list of the Paris-based Financial Action Task Force (FATF).

Pakistani authorities had in the past claimed Mir had died, but Western countries remained unconvinced and demanded proof of his death. This issue became a major sticking point in FATF's assessment of Pakistan's progress on the action plan late last year.

Mir is a senior member of the Pakistan-based LeT and is wanted for his involvement in the November 2008 terrorist attacks in Mumbai.

"Mir was LeT's operations manager for the attacks, playing a leading role in their planning, preparation, and execution," the US State Department has said.

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said in his address to the high-level UN General Assembly session in September had said that "The United Nations responds to terrorism by sanctioning its perpetrators".

"Those who politicise the UNSC 1267 Sanctions regime, sometimes even to the extent of defending proclaimed terrorists, do so at their own peril. Believe me, they advance neither their own interests nor indeed their reputation," he had said.

Amid repeated holds on proposals to designate terrorists under the UN sanctions regime, Jaishankar had told reporters here last month that terrorism should not be used as a political tool and the idea that something is blocked without assigning a reason challenges common sense.

"We do believe that in any process, if any party is taking a decision, they need to be transparent about it. So the idea that something is blocked without assigning a reason, it sort of challenges common sense," Jaishankar had said in New York in response to a question by PTI on the issue of repeated holds and blocks on proposals to list terrorists under the UN sanctions regime.

Earlier also, China, an all-weather friend of Islamabad, has placed holds and blocks on bids by India and its allies to list Pakistan-based terrorists.

In May 2019, India won a huge diplomatic win at the UN when the global body designated Pakistan-based JeM chief Masood Azhar as a "global terrorist", a decade after New Delhi had first approached the world body on the issue.

A veto-wielding permanent member of the UN Security Council, China was the sole hold-out in the 15-nation body on the bid to blacklist Azhar, blocking attempts by placing a "technical hold".

UN chief Guterres to meet PM Modi and EAM Jaishankar during two-day India visit

UNITED NATIONS, Oct 17: UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar during a two-day visit to India, his spokesperson said here on Monday.

Guterres, who will be in India from October 18-20, will take part in an event on India and UN partnership and will also participate in the launch of the Lifestyle for Environment (LiFE) Mission, Stephane Dujarric, Spokesman for the Secretary-General, said at the daily press briefing.

During his two-day visit, the Secretary-General will meet with Prime Minister Modi as well as External Affairs Minister Jaishankar.

Guterres will also visit a model project site which has recently been declared India's first solar-powered village in Gujarat's Modhera. "At the site, the Secretary-General will witness how solar rooftops installed on more than 1300 rural houses are improving lives and community, Dujarric said.

The Secretary-General will then head off to Vietnam where he will take part in a ceremony to commemorate the 45th anniversary of Vietnam's membership to the United Nations. When asked at the noon briefing by a Pakistani journalist whether Guterres will discuss the situation in Kashmir with the Indian leaders, Dujarric said that he wait for a readout of what is actually been discussed. And then we can talk about what's been said instead of saying what may be said.

This will be the Secretary-General's first visit to India, since he commenced his second term in office in January 2022. He had earlier visited India in October 2018 during his first term. Announcing the visit, the Ministry of External Affairs in New Delhi said that Guterres will commence his visit to India by paying tributes to the victims of the 26/11 terror attacks at the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel in Mumbai.

Guterres will also deliver a public address at IIT Mumbai on India @75: UN-India Partnership: Strengthening South-South Cooperation'.

Guterres will join Prime Minister Modi on October 20 in Gujarat's Ekta Nagar, Kevadiya at the launch of the Mission LiFE (Lifestyle for Environment) booklet, logo and tagline.

In Kevadiya, Guterres is expected to pay floral tributes at the Statue of Unity and visit the Sun Temple in Modhera, where he will also witness other development projects in the area.

The MEA statement said that Mission LiFE will be India's signature initiative at the United Nations and other international platforms for showcasing climate action and early achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals.

Jaishankar would hold bilateral discussions with Guterres on issues of global concern, steps to deepen India's engagement with the UN, including through India's upcoming Presidency of the G20 and reformed multilateralism.

India abstains from voting in UNHRC on holding debate on China’s treatment of Uyghur Muslims

GENEVA, Oct 6: India on Thursday abstained from voting on a draft resolution in the UN Human Rights Council on holding a debate on the human rights situation in China’s restive Xinjiang region.

Human rights groups have been sounding the alarm over what is happening in the resource-rich north-western Chinese province for years, alleging that more than one million Uyghurs had been detained against their will in a large network of what Beijing calls “re-education camps”.

The draft resolution on “holding a debate on the situation of human rights in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of China” was rejected in the 47-member Council after 17 members voted in favour, 19 members voted against, including China, and 11 abstentions, including India, Brazil, Mexico and Ukraine.

The draft resolution was presented by a core group consisting of Canada, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, UK and USA, and co-sponsored by a range of states, including Turkey.

China director at Human Rights Watch, Sophie Richardson, said in a statement that for the first time in its history, the UN’s top human rights body considered a proposal to debate the human rights situation in the Xinjiang region of China.

“While the Council’s failure to adopt the proposal is an abdication of responsibility and a betrayal of Uyghur victims, the extremely close vote highlights the growing number of states willing to take a stand on principle and shine a spotlight on China’s sweeping rights violations,” Richardson said.

Richardson noted that “nothing will erase the stain of China’s crimes against humanity, laid bare” by a recent report of former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet.

“We urge incoming High Commissioner Volker Turk to brief the Council on his office’s report, and we call on states, companies, and the international community to implement the report’s recommendations and hold Chinese authorities accountable for their international crimes,” Richardson added.

Serious allegations of human rights violations against Uyghurs and other predominantly Muslim communities in China were brought to the attention of the UN Human Rights Office and UN human rights mechanisms since late 2017.

46 Girls Among 53 Killed In Kabul Classroom Bombings: UN

KABUL, Oct 3: Forty-six girls and young women were among those killed in a suicide bombing on an Afghan education centre last week, the UN said Monday as it announced the total death count had risen to 53.

A suicide bomber blew himself up on Friday next to women at a gender-segregated study hall packed with hundreds of students sitting a practice test for university admissions.

The attack happened in a Kabul neighbourhood home to the historically oppressed Shiite Muslim Hazara community, which has been subjected to some of the worst violence in the country's recent history.

"Our human rights team continues documenting the crime: verifying facts & establishing reliable data to counter denial & revisionism," the United Nations assistance mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) tweeted.

It raised the death count from 43 to 53, adding that a further 110 had been wounded.

Afghanistan's Taliban authorities, which have often tried to play down attacks challenging their regime, have said 25 people were killed and 33 others wounded.

No group has so far claimed responsibility, but the jihadist Islamic State group (IS), which considers Shiites as heretics, has carried out several deadly attacks in the same area targeting girls, schools and mosques.

Education is a flashpoint issue in Afghanistan, with the Taliban blocking many girls from returning to secondary education, while IS also stands against the education of women and girls.

The Taliban's return to power in Afghanistan last year brought an end to a two-decade war against a Western-backed government, leading to a significant reduction in violence, but security has begun to deteriorate in recent months.

Friday's attack has triggered sporadic women-led protests in Kabul and some other cities.

Around 50 women chanted, "Stop Hazara genocide, it's not a crime to be a Shiite", as they marched on Saturday in the Dasht-e-Barchi neighbourhood where the attack happened.

The rallies have been dispersed by Taliban forces often firing shots into the air and beating protesters.

Afghanistan's Hazaras have regularly faced attacks in the majority Sunni Muslim country.

They have been persecuted for decades, targeted by the Taliban during their insurgency against the former US-backed government as well as by IS.

In May last year, before the Taliban's return to power, at least 85 people -- mainly girls -- were killed and about 300 were wounded when three bombs exploded near their school in Dasht-e-Barchi.

Again, no group claimed responsibility, but a year earlier IS claimed a suicide attack on an educational centre in the same area that killed 24.

UN Security Council Opens Session On Russia Annexations

UNITED NATIONS, Sept 30: The UN Security Council on Friday opened a session on Russia's annexations of Ukrainian territory, with Moscow certain to veto a US-backed resolution of condemnation.

"This is exactly what the Security Council was made to do. Defend sovereignty, protect territorial integrity, promote peace and security," the US ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, said at the start of the meeting.

"The United Nations was built on an idea that never again would one country be allowed to take another's territory by force," she said.

The resolution, co-sponsored by the United States and Albania, would condemn the "illegal" referendums held in Russian-occupied parts of Ukraine and call on all states not to recognize any changes to Ukraine's borders.

It also calls on Russia to withdraw troops immediately from Ukraine, ending an invasion launched on February 24.

The Security Council, led by France, went ahead with the session despite certainly that Russia -- one of five permanent members -- will veto it.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken earlier Friday said that the United States would seek a vote at the General Assembly.

"If Russia blocks the Security Council from carrying out its responsibilities, we'll ask the UN General Assembly, where every country has a vote, to make clear that it's unacceptable to redraw borders by force," Blinken told reporters in Washington.

"Every country has a stake in condemning these steps," he said.

China Calls On Russia, Ukraine Not To Let War 'Spill Over'

UNITED NATIONS, Sept 24: China on Saturday at the United Nations urged Russia and Ukraine not to let effects of their war "spill over" and called for a diplomatic resolution.

"We call on all parties concerned to keep the crisis from spilling over and to protect the legitimate rights and interests of developing countries," Foreign Minister Wang Yi said in an address at the UN General Assembly.

Putin 'Shamelessly Violated' UN Charater: Biden

UNITED NATIONS, Sept 21: US President Joe Biden tore into Vladimir Putin on Wednesday as he addressed the United Nations, saying the Russian leader "shamelessly violated" the UN Charter when he invaded neighbor Ukraine.

"Russia has shamelessly violated the core tenets of the United Nations Charter," Biden said as he addressed the annual UN General Assembly in New York.

Russian forces have attacked Ukrainian schools, railway stations and hospitals, as part of Moscow's aim of "extinguishing Ukraine's right to exist as a state," Biden said.

While delivering a rebuke to the Kremlin, Biden notably reached out to rivals on issues he said were of global importance, including climate change and nuclear arms control.

"A nuclear war cannot be won, and must never be fought," Biden said.

"We are seeing disturbing trends. Russia (is) making irresponsible nuclear threats to use nuclear weapons," he said.

However, "the United States is ready to pursue critical arms control measures."

While once again vowing that Washington will not allow Tehran to obtain atomic weapons, Biden also underlined that "diplomacy is the best way to achieve this outcome."

Biden's language was likewise relatively mild on China, the biggest geopolitical and economic rival to the United States.

"Let me be direct about the competition between the United States and China," Biden said. "As we manage shifting geopolitical trends, the United States will conduct itself as a reasonable leader. We do not seek conflict, we do not seek a Cold War."

He said that while "the United States will be unabashed in promoting our vision of a free, open, secure and prosperous world," it will not force countries to "choose" sides.

The US president expanded his cooperative message in addressing a longtime demand from developing economies around the world to be included in the UN Security Council, which currently only has five permanent members -- Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States.

"The United States supports increasing the number of both permanent and non-permanent representatives of the council," Biden said.

"This includes permanent seats for those nations we've long supported -- permanent seats for countries in Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean. The United States is committed to this vital work," he added.

Turning again to Iran, where rare protests have broken out over the death of a young woman arrested by the state's morality police, Biden said Americans "stand with the brave women. of Iran.

"Today we stand with the brave citizens and the brave women of Iran who right now are demonstrating to secure their basic rights," he said.