Pakistan Monday promulgated a law to streamline the procedure for the implementation of the UN sanctions against individuals and organisations.
The move comes amid tensions with India following a suicide attack in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pulwama district on February 14 by Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed group that killed 40 CRPF personnel.
India handed over a dossier to Pakistan to take action against the JeM, as pressure mounted on Islamabad to take action against individual and organisation listed by the UN Security Council as “terrorists”.
In a statement, the foreign office Monday said the government issued the UN Security Council (Freezing and Seizure) Order, 2019 in accordance with the provisions of Pakistan’s United Nations Security Council (UNSC) Act, 1948.
“The objective of the UNSC (Freezing and Seizure) Order 2019 is to streamline the procedure for implementation of Security Council Sanctions against designated individuals and entities,” it said.
On Sunday, information minister Fawad Chaudhry said the government has taken action against the proscribed organisations including JeM in the past and any future action against them will be taken in the light of the National Action Plan (NAP) and Pakistan’s commitments in connection with the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).
However, a top government source said that the Pakistan government has decided to launch a crackdown on militant outfits, including Jaish-e-Muhammed (JeM) chief Masood Azhar, in order to de-escalate tensions with India.
The official said the action against JeM is “expected any time soon”. Dawn newspaper also reported on Monday that “a decisive crackdown on extremist and militant organisations in the country looks imminent”.
The new law is expected to help Pakistan government to fulfill its obligations towards the UNSC by expediting seizure of properties of banned groups and individuals.
The US last month asked Pakistan to “freeze without delay” the funds and other financial assets of the “UNSC-designated terrorist networks and their leaders”.
In its statement, the Foreign Office said that it may be recalled that the Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter authorises the (UNSC), acting under Article 41, to decide measures, not involving the use of armed force, to give effect to its decisions for the maintenance of international peace and security. In Pakistan, such decisions of the Security Council are implemented through the UN Security Council Act (UNSC), 1948, it said.
The FO said over the years the sanctions regime of the United Nations Security Council have evolved.
“A key measure of these sanctions regimes is ‘assets freeze’ under which States are required to freeze/seize the assets of designated entities and individuals as soon as they are designated by the relevant UNSC Sanctions Committee,” it said.
The UN Security Council (Freezing and Seizure) Order, 2019 has been formulated in line with UNSC and the FATF standards, according to FO.
Meanwhile, Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Monday hinted that his country may not oppose a joint move by France, Britain and the US in the UN Security Council to list Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar as a “global terrorist”.
“Time has come for Pakistan to decide in its own interests. We will do what’s in Pakistan’s interests,” Qureshi told Geo TV in an interview.
Last week, the US, the UK and France moved a fresh proposal in the UN Security Council to designate Azhar as a “global terrorist”, a listing that will subject him to global travel ban, asset freeze and arms embargo.
The Security Council Sanctions Committee has 10 working days to consider the fresh proposal submitted by the three members. It is the fourth such bid at the UN in the last 10 years to list Azhar as a “global terrorist”.
When asked whether Pakistan will request its close ally China to veto the resolution once again in the UNSC, Qureshi said his government will try to build a consensus among all parties and do what’s in Pakistan’s interests.
“We have some global commitments…We will have to take action which doesn’t harm our global reputation,” he said, without elaborating.
Describing the situation following the Pulwama attack as a “defining moment” for Pakistan, he said Pakistan doesn’t want to go for a war with India.
“We want peace. Our people want jobs, they want reforms in institutions, they want us to crackdown on corruption…,” he added.
In 2009, India moved a proposal to designate Azhar, whose UN-proscribed Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) claimed responsibility for the suicide attack against Indian security forces in Pulwama on February 14 in which 40 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel were killed.
In 2016 again, India moved the proposal with the P3—the US, the UK and France in the UN’s 1267 Sanctions Committee to ban Azhar, also the mastermind of the attack on the air base in Pathankot in January, 2016. In 2017, the P3 nations moved a similar proposal again.
However, on all occasions, China, a veto-wielding permanent member of the Security Council, blocked India’s proposal from being adopted by the Sanctions Committee. It remains to be seen how China will vote on the proposal this time.
When asked about the dossier on JeM handed over by India, Qureshi said, “We are examining it and we will respond accordingly.”