United Nations, Feb 12 (IANS) A United Nations terrorism monitoring team has contradicted Pakistan’s assertion that the Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) is “defunct”, noting in a recent report that the group remains active and has claimed responsibility for a series of attacks, including the Red Fort strike in Delhi last November.
The UN’s Analytical Support and Sanctions Monitoring Team, in a report submitted to the Security Council last week, said JeM was “reported to be linked to an attack on the Red Fort in New Delhi on 9 November that killed 15 people”.
Without naming Pakistan, the report stated that “a Member State reported that JeM was defunct”, but added that the same submission noted that its leader, Mohammed Masood Azhar Alvi, had “formally announced the establishment of a women-only wing, Jamaat ul-Muminat”.
The report said JeM “had claimed responsibility for a series of attacks”.
JeM and Azhar Alvi are listed under UN sanctions.
India welcomed the acknowledgment of JeM’s role in the report. External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said on Friday: “We have seen that they have taken on board India’s inputs in regard to our concerns on cross-border terrorism and also as to how we can strengthen the global fight against terrorism.”
The report also referred to the killing of three individuals allegedly linked to the Pahalgam attack, which was claimed by The Resistance Front (TRF), described as an offshoot of the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), another UN-sanctioned organisation.
“It was reported that on 28 July, three individuals allegedly involved in the attack perpetrated in Pahalgam, in Jammu and Kashmir, were killed,” the report said.
In the attack last April, 26 people were killed at the tourist town in what authorities described as religion-based killings.
The TRF has been sanctioned by the United States and India, but has not been listed by the UN, reportedly due to objections from Pakistan, an elected member of the Security Council, and China.
The report was to be submitted to the Security Council’s 1267 Committee, established to oversee sanctions related to the Islamic State, al-Qaeda and associated entities, which include JeM and LeT.
However, the committee is currently without a chair, amid differences within the Council over the appointment. In the absence of a chair, the report was submitted to the United Kingdom, which holds the Council presidency this month.
Last year, Pakistan had sought the chairmanship of the 1267 Committee but did not secure it. Following discussions, Pakistan was appointed chair of the Taliban Sanctions Committee, while Denmark was named head of the 1267 Committee.
–IANS
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