In a veiled attack on Pakistan, India has condemned any direct or indirect financial assistance to terrorists and terror groups by nations that enables them to pursue their activities, including in defending criminal cases against them.
Speaking at a General Assembly Sixth Committee meeting on measures to eliminate international terrorism yesterday, First Secretary and Legal adviser in India’s Permanent Mission to the UN Yedla Umasankar called for increased cooperation between the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and the UN to combat terror financing. He said, the flow of resources meant to produce terror are required to be stopped by States for which collective inter-State efforts are required at regional and sub-regional levels. Umasankar said, the FATF has a significant role in setting global standards for preventing and combating terrorist financing and the UN needs to increase cooperation with such bodies. He said, India strongly condemns direct or indirect financial assistance given to terrorist groups or individual members thereof by States or its machineries, to pursue their activities, including in defending the criminal cases involving terrorist acts against them.
India’s comments came as on Pakistan’s request, Mumbai attack mastermind and banned Jama’at-ud-Da’wah Chief Hafiz Saeed was allowed by an Anti-Terror Committee of the UN Security Council to withdraw money from his bank account for basic expenses. Saeed, a UN designated terrorist was listed under UN Security Council Resolution 1267 in December 2008.
