Shashi Tharoor slams China for shielding Pakistani terror groups at UNSC

New Delhi (India) June 3: Shashi Tharoor who is currently in charge of an all-party delegation abroad, criticised China and Pakistan for keeping away Lashkar-e-Taiba's "The Resistance Front" (TRF) from being included in a UNSC statement. According to Tharoor, Pakistan ensured that the front was not included in the UN Security Council's press release "with the help of their friends in China.”

He said that although India filed complaints about the group with the UN Sanctions Committee on multiple occasions, China's backing of Pakistan made sure that RF's name was taken out of the final press release.

Tharoor said, “LeT (Lashkar-e-Taiba) has created this front called Resistance Front, we have been reporting about Resistance Front to UN Sanctions Committee, time after time. They (TRF) claimed credit for the killings, and the next day they repeated that claim. But when they realised the gravity of it, their handlers in Pakistan got them to delete the claim. However, their claim is on record for 24 hours.”

He added, “When India encouraged our friends on Security Council to mention the Resistance Front in the press statement that Security Council issued, Pakistan government, I am sorry to say that, with the support of your friend in China, took out the name, so there is not even a reference.”

In his conversation with Ambassador Amorim in Brazil, Tharoor stated that India's battle is against the use of terrorism as a tool of state policy. He also drew attention to the fact that Pakistan's top military and police officials visited the funerals of terrorists killed during Operation Sindoor.

Presenting a picture of one of these funerals, Tharoor stated, “When we struck those terror bases on May 7, there was a funeral at one of these sites conducted by Hafiz Abdur Rauf, an LeT figure named by the United Nations. Look who’s attending the funeral – uniformed officials of the police and military of Pakistan. These are all senior officials, this is what is going on in Pakistan.”

He also appreciated Brazil for supporting India and personally contacting Prime Minister Narendra Modi to offer condolences after the April 22 Pahalgam terrorist attack.

Shashi Tharoor is leading the Indian delegation, which is scheduled to land in the US for the last stage of its journey. It's interesting to note that on Tuesday, a team from Pakistan, headed by former Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, is expected to also visit the states. Both groups want to interact with American lawmakers and political figures in order to gather support for their different national objectives.

Aadrika Tayal