European think-tank urges UN to hold Pakistan accountable for promoting terrorism

A European think-tank has urged the United Nations to hold Pakistan accountable for promoting terrorism and failing to live up to its legal and moral obligations towards its own people and the international community.

During an intervention at the ongoing 46th session of UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, Aaron Magunna, a research analyst at European Foundation for South Asian Studies (EFSAS) said, "In 2019 and 2020, following growing diplomatic pressure from the FATF and seemingly not driven by a genuine attempt to combat terrorism, Pakistan arrested Hafiz Saeed and Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, two UN-designated terrorists.

These sham arrests exemplify Pakistan's double-edged approach towards terrorist activities: terrorism is patronized when strategically useful but opposed when it targets Pakistani interests".

He added, "This is most apparent in Afghanistan, where Pakistan will now have to adapt to an at least partially Taliban-led government".

Global terror watchdog Financial Action Task Force (FATF) recently announced that Pakistan will continue to remain on its grey list due to failure to comply with all the points of a plan of action set by it to combat terror financing.