Why India’s Push For A Comprehensive Convention On Terrorism Is Deadlocked: UN Meet,Sanctions & FATF

NEW DELHI: On ‘The Gist’, Ambassador Asoke Mukerji, India’s Former Permanent Representative at the United Nations in conversation with StratNews Global Associate Editor Amitabh P. Revi. In 2010, Ambassador Mukerji also supervised the Ministry of External Affairs’ Counter Terrorism (CT) work, during which India negotiated entry to the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and the Global Counter Terrorism Forum (GCTF). He was also involved in UN CT issues at the UN General Assemblies from 2013 to 2015. The former Envoy discusses the UN Security Council Counter Terror Commission (UNSC CTC) meetings that were held for the first time outside New York in Mumbai and Delhi, the main focus of addressing terrorist misuse or abuse of new and emerging technologies(information and communication technologies, terror financing & unmanned aerial systems including drones), the outcomes and the ‘Delhi Declaration’ that was adopted, External Affairs Minister Dr S. Jaishankar reiterating how the key conspirators and planners of the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks continue to remain “protected and unpunished” in Pakistan and in a not so veiled reference to China pointing out that when it comes to proscribing some terrorists, the United Nations Security Council has “regrettably” been unable to act in some cases because of “political considerations” of one nation, the larger question of why India’s 1996 proposal for a Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism is deadlocked, the importance that Sanctions Committees in the UN have and Pakistan’s recent removal from the FATF ‘Grey List’.