There, again, is some buzz in the United Nations in matters linked to tackling global terror and neutralizing the lethality of such networks. The fact that several of them are based out of Pakistan gives India some hope that the world community would act in meaningful ways after a drag of many years — while India bled almost regularly in Kashmir and elsewhere.
A French-sponsored resolution passed at the Security Council Friday asked member nations to step up the fight against terror financing and introduce laws that will make such actions a serious crime. It is notable that those violating the UN writ can face sanctions. At the same time, too much hope need not be pinned on this, just as several moves by the world body in the past did not lead to meaningful efforts in implementation of decisions.
Also notable is the fact that a US-sponsored resolution against Pakistan-based terror outfits like Jaish e Muhammed has been in the works at UN, while chances are that China could again use its veto power to thwart any effort to nail the merchants of death like Masood Azhar or Hafiz Sayeed. This resolution’s progress in the UN is also being closely watched here.
India has rightly stressed the point, through its representative Syed Akbaruddin, that the proof of the pudding is in its eating – meaning, UN should go beyond passing of resolutions and insist on member countries for their effective implementation. The UN body, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), is vested with authority to bring on line as many as 50 countries to pass laws that would stall attempts by any agency to finance terror outfits like Jaish. Even granted that this will have some impact, the fact remains that this too will be a long drawn-out process. India need not put its faith on such UN-inspired actions which might or might not produce results even in the long term.
So far, India’s has been a soft approach vis-a-vis dealing with a rogue nation like Pakistan, where the political and military establishments are covertly and overtly backing terror groups in its soil which claim to uphold the cause of Kashmiris. India’s latest presentation of a dossier vis-a-vis the Pulwama suicide attack is proof of the futility of New Delhi’s approaches in this connection. Pakistan dismissed it as “no proof”, as it had declared in relation to Pathankot and Uri probes as well. At the minimum, India cannot fool around with itself, drag matters, and simply soft-pedal its responses.