Pakistan slams double standards in terror fight

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has voiced its dismay at the failure of UN Sanctions Committee to approve Islamabad’s request to place Jamaat-e-ul-Ahrar terrorist Umer Khalid Khurasani on terror list.

“We are aware that the UN Al-Qaeda/ISIL Sanctions Committee did not approve Pakistan's proposal to list Umer Khalid Khurasani a.k.a Abdul Wali, the leader of Jamat-ul-Ahrar since it could not reach consensus due to objection by a member,” Foreign Office spokesman Dr Mohammad Faisal said on Friday. 

“As the discussions of the Sanctions Committee are confidential, we are not in a position to comment on these deliberations. The Committee has not yet formally conveyed this development to us,” he said.

“However, we are deeply disappointed over the failure of the Sanctions Committee to list Wali who is a known terrorist and has the blood of hundreds of innocent Pakistanis on his hands.”

He said that if the organization Jamaat-ul-Ahrar has been listed by the Sanctions Committee, its leader should also have been listed.

“This action demonstrates the double standards prevailing in the international fight against terrorism and also show complete disregard of the sacrifices rendered by Pakistan in this fight,” he added.

Khurasani is accused of orchestrating the December 2014 terrorist attack on Army Public School in Peshawar, which left 150 people mostly children and staff members killed. 

According to some media reports, US has objected to Khurasani's listing on the basis of his location in Afghanistan.