Islamabad, Jan 25: UN Security Council team has arrived here for an assessment of Pakistan’s compliance with the world body’s sanctions regime, amid mounting global pressure on the country to act against Hafiz Saeed and entities linked to the Mumbai attack mastermind. Foreign Office (FO) spokesman Mohammad Faisal said that the team’s visit was a routine matter.
“The Monitoring Team (MT) of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) 1267 Sanctions Committee, dealing with the Taliban, Al-Qaeda and Da’esh, is in Pakistan for a two-day visit,” he said. He said the team apprises the member states of current international and regional threat assessment from terrorism and suggests way in which the member states can improve their implementation of sanctions measures.
The visit of the team is taking place amid increasing pressure on Pakistan from the US and India with respect to the inadequate implementation of the sanctions on Saeed and entities linked to the Jamaat-ud Dawa chief. Faisal said that the visit will give Pakistan an opportunity to highlight its accomplishments in turning the tide against terrorism. The sanctions monitoring team is expected to see the progress on sanction against banned entities including those run by Saeed.
Saeed was added to the UN Security Council Resolution 1267 sanctions list in December 2008 after Mumbai terror attack. UN members are required freeze the financial assets of terror groups in order to destroy their capabilities to take part in terrorist activities. Saeed was released from house arrest in November. The US has been repeatedly asking Pakistan to re-arrest him. The UN official will not only see the progress on sanctions against Saeed and his charities but also against other groups listed under UNSC resolution. When asked about possibility of access for the UN team Saeed, Faisal just said: “The UN Monitoring Team has a particular mandate of UN sanctions regime related to the implementation of UNSC Resolution 1267.”
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