India's External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar (file photo)
New York: External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar criticised the proposals to designate Pakistan-based terrorists under the UN sanctions regime and said the idea that something is blocked without assigning a reason challenges common sense.
India on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly added that terrorism should not be used as a "political tool." Jaishankar was speaking to Indian journalists after finishing his address to the high-level session.
China, a veto-wielding permanent member of the Security Council, has repeatedly put holds on listing proposals by India, the US, and other allies to blacklist Pakistan-based terrorists.
Speaking about China and Pakistan, Jaishankar said that India firmly advocates a zero-tolerance approach to terrorism. "There is no justification for any act of terrorism, regardless of motivation. And no rhetoric, however sanctimonious, can ever cover up blood stains." He added that nations who defend proclaimed terrorists in the UN advance neither their own interests nor their reputation.
"We hope that reason would prevail and people, first of all, would not arbitrarily or politically block. This is not inter-state politics. We are trying to get across our message that terrorism is not political. Its consequences should not be made political," he added.
The foreign minister also criticised UN members whose actions and policies do not follow their statements on terrorism. "If you go into the UN and say does everybody consider terrorism a common threat, everybody will say yes. So we are saying well, if that's what your position is, then why don't your policies and your actions follow up on it."
Seeking transparency on blocking the Pak terrorists list, he said: "We do believe that in any process if any party is taking a decision, they need to be transparent about it." He further said the matter has come up in some of his meetings and he mentioned it in my BRICS intervention - a meeting held by the foreign ministers of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa.