China-Pakistan nexus contradicts rhetoric of fighting terror

Islamabad [Pakistan], July 15 : China and Pakistan have always bragged that they are fighting terrorism on multiple fronts, however, Beijing's recent move to protect terrorist Abdul Makki at the UN contradicts the rhetoric of fighting international terrorism.
Valerio Fabbri, writing in Geopolitica.info said that as a member of the Security Council with veto power, China in a sense acted as a proxy for Pakistan.
This move sends a signal that China is prepared to contradict its rhetoric of fighting international terrorism and may in fact protect it. Both China and Pakistan are in fact obstructing the cause of the international fight against terrorism, reported Fabbri.
Moreover, the latest manifestation of the axis seems to be coming from the handling of one most-wanted terrorist, Sajid Mir, who was reported to be dead until he was arrested at the end of June.
US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) had put a USD 5 million reward for information leading to Sajid Mir's arrest and conviction, Lashkar-e-Tayyaba (LeT) operative who masterminded the 2008 Mumbai terrorist attacks.
By Pakistan's own admission, Mir died in 2016, yet as recently as the end of June, Nikkei Asia reported that Pakistan had arrested Mir to get off the "grey list" of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), the international anti-terror finance watchdog.
However, Pakistan's double standards on terrorism in the case of Sajid Mir were overshadowed by China through blocking of the designation of Abdul Rehman Makki, LeT and Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) leader, as a global terrorist at the UNSC's Al Qaeda and ISIL Sanctions Committee, also known as the 1267 Committee, reported Geopolitica.info.
Abdul Rehman Makki is a LeT Deputy Commander and brother-in-law of Hafiz Saeed, founder of the LeT. The UN Committee has also declared JuD, the political branch of the LeT, a terrorist front group.
Hafiz Saeed was sentenced on 8 April 2022 by a special anti-terrorism court in Lahore, to a jail term of 33 years for "financing terrorism."
Resolution 1267 provides for sanctions against individuals and entities that support or finance the acts or activities of ISIL, Al-Qaida, associated individuals, groups, undertakings and entities.
LeT, JuD, Hafiz Saeed, Jaish-e-Mohammed and its head Masood Azhar, are listed under 1267.
The US has been looking for Sajid Mir since the 2008 Mumbai attacks. They did not believe in 2016 that Mir was dead. In fact, at that time, David Coleman Headley, a LeT terrorist who later turned approver, told a special TADA court from a US jail, via video conferencing that Sajid Mir had been his main contact in the LeT.
Mir's recent arrest in Pakistan confirms the suspicion that he was kept from public view to get Pakistan off the hook with the Financial Action Task Force, which recently retained (17 June 2022) Islamabad on its Grey List, subject to conduct of an on-site visit.
Evidence of Sajid Mir being alive comes from Hammad Azhar, Pakistan's former finance minister, who reportedly said that Pakistan took measures against Sajid Mir and other designated terrorists that were "satisfactory" to the FATF.
Moreover, Pakistan's response to the Mumbai attacks has been a series of about-turns and pointed efforts to block international pressure to bring the perpetrators to justice.
It has failed to take adequate steps to prosecute terrorists including masterminds of the 2008 Mumbai attacks such as Jaish-e-Mohammed (JEM) founder Masood Azhar and LeT's Sajid Mir, according to the 2020 US Country Report on Terrorism.
"Pakistan did not, however, take steps under its domestic authorities to prosecute other terrorist leaders residing in Pakistan, such as JeM founder Masood Azhar and LeT's Sajid Mir, mastermind of the 2008 Mumbai attacks," it had said.