The statement issued following the conclusion of the third No Money For Terror (NMFT) conference expanded the concerns over terrorism beyond transnational groups such as the IS and Al Qaeda and flagged the existence of safe havens, two pet concerns of India.
The third No Money For Terror (NMFT) Conference, which concluded in New Delhi on Saturday, affirmed that the UN sanctions regime must function in an objective manner and should be “free from political considerations and duality of standards”. It also expressed concerns over the ability of terrorists to find safe havens and flagged the use of drones to transport weapons and explosives.
“Affirmed that terrorism and its financing, in all forms and manifestations, continues to constitute one of the most serious threats to international peace and security and that any acts of terrorism and its financing are criminal and unjustifiable regardless of their motivations, whenever and by whomsoever committed, and called for listings and de-listings under these sanction regimes to be done in an objective manner, based on evidence and free from political considerations and duality of standards,” said the Chair’s statement following the conclusion of the event.
Notably, China has blocked as many as five proposals from India and the US to list Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) and Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) operatives as terrorists under the UN list. These include LeT chief Hafiz Saeed’s son Talha, LeT operative Shahid Mahmood, 26/11 accused Sajid Mir, Jamaat-ud-Dawa leader Abdul Rehman Makki and JeM chief Masood Azhar’s brother Abdul Rauf Azhar.
The statement stood out for expanding the concerns over terrorism beyond transnational groups such as the Islamic State (IS) and Al Qaeda, and flagging the existence of safe havens – two pet concerns of India. In the last two conferences — at Paris in 2018 and Melbourne in 2019 — the statements particularly mentioned IS and Al Qaeda as prime threats and did not touch the issues of cross-border terrorism in the Indian subcontinent.
