Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], October 28 (ANI): Ghana Foreign Minister, Shirley Ayorkar Botchwey on Friday reiterated that every country has a right to act against any country from where the terrorism is being emanated.
“If a country is aware of where attacks (terrorism) are coming from and has evidence too, I think that the country has every right to deal with it. We know the attacks are coming from West Africa so we are dealing with it accordingly,” said Botchwey at the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) Counter-Terrorism Committee (CTC) meeting at Taj Mahal Palace in Mumbai.
She further elaborated, “If a country knows where the terrorism is coming from in their land, that country has all rights to take action against them… We are facing similar situations in Africa Also and we are taking action.”
Meanwhile, Reem Al Hashimy, UAE Minister of State addressing the UN counter-terror meeting in Mumbai mentioned Houthi attacks in her country and said, “terror knows no border and shatters lives.”
Recently, a suspected drone attack in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), caused multiple explosions in which two Indians were also killed.
The Shia Houthi rebels of Yemen, who have been controlling the northern parts of the country, including the capital Sana’a, for almost seven years, have claimed responsibility for the attack.
One of the Arab world’s poorest countries, Yemen has been devastated by a nearly seven-year civil war, which started after Houthis captured the capital Sana’a, following which Saudi-led forces intervened and fought the rebels with the aim of ending Iranian influence in the region and restoring the former government.
The UAE joined the Saudi campaign in 2015 and has been deeply involved in the conflict ever since, despite announcing the formal withdrawal of its forces in 2019 and 2020.
Further, UNSC President for October and Gabon Foreign Minister Michael Moussa Adamo raised the issue of terror funding at the UNSC CTC meeting in Mumbai.
Adamo said, “Terrorists must be deprived of resources.”
It is pertinent to note that many Indian officials raised the issue of delisting Pakistan from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) grey list and said that Pakistan delisting from FATF can increase terror attacks.
Pakistan has been taken out from the Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF) ‘grey list’ with the global watchdog stating that Islamabad would continue to work with the Asia/Pacific Group on Money Laundering to improve further its anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing (AML/CFT) system.
Due to FATF’s Greylisting of Pakistan, cross-border terrorist bases reduced by 75 per cent but now gone up back by 50 per cent and we expect scale up in terror attacks, says Indian official- Safi Rizvi, Addition Secy in Home Ministry at UN counter-terror meet in Mumbai
“The gentleman marked out is not a gentleman, he is the UN-designated head of Lashkar e Toiba”, Indian official- Safi Rizvi, Addition Secy in Home Ministry on Hafiz Saeed as he lists Pakistan’s role in the terror attack at Mumbai UN counter-terror meet.
“Conspirators and planners of the 26/11 attacks continue to remain protected and unpunished. When it comes to proscribing some of these terrorists, the Security Council has regrettably been unable to act”, said External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar at Mumbai Taj Hotel.
Meanwhile, the US too sent messages to Pakistan and China who are in nexus to block all moves on UNSC listings of global terrorists.
It called for actions against perpetrators of 26/11 and asked “relevant parties” to support the designation of terrorists.
“We have the responsibility to victims” to bring “justice to perpetrators of Mumbai attacks including the mastermind,” said US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
Pointing to the UNSC listing, he explained that the US has worked with India to put forward nominations to designate terrorists and “all relevant parties should support designation.”
Recently, China has blocked several bids to designate several terrorists based in Pakistan. Beijing this month put on hold a proposal to list Talha Saeed, son of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) chief Hafiz Saeed. This bid was moved by India and co-supported by the US, under the 1267 sanction regime.
It was the fifth time that China has blocked an India-US proposal in recent months, Lashkar-e-Taiba member Shahid Mahmood in October, Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorist Sajid Mir in September, LeT and Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) leader Abdul Rehman Makki in June, as well as Abdul Rauf Azhar in August, the brother of Jaish-e Mohammed (JEM) chief Masood Azhar, were protected by Beijing.
UK Foreign Secretary James Cleverly also paid tribute to India’s leadership in the fight against terrorism and said, “We must do to prevent attacks, like the one that happened in Mumbai.”
Terming money the lifeblood of terrorism, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Friday highlighted how terrorists continue to get financial resources to maintain their organizational functions and said the reality that terrorism continues to exist and expands points to an underlying truth.
“We have endeavoured to bring the mastermind and the perpetrators of the terrorist attack to justice. This task remains unfinished. Therefore, the coming together of UNSC’s counter-terror committee to this venue is both special and significant”, said EAM Jaishankar.
“14 years ago city of Mumbai was witnessed to most shocking terror attack of our times…. city was held hostage due to terrorist from across the border”, Jaishankar added at the soft opening of UN Counter terror meet in Mumbai.
Ahead of the 14th anniversary of the 2008 Mumbai attacks in November, India is hosting the two-day anti-terrorism meeting of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) starting Friday. The key UNSC meeting, under New Delhi’s chair of the Counter-Terrorism Committee (CTC), is taking place at one of the main sites that saw the dastardly terror attacks – the Taj Hotel in Mumbai. (ANI)
This report is filed by ANI news service. TheNewsMill holds no responsibility for this content.
