Designation without much practical consequence: Tharoor on Pak helming UNSC anti-terror committees

Washington: India is not friendless in the UN Security Council and Pakistan chairing its Taliban Sanctions Committee and being named vice-chair of the Counter-Terrorism Committee is a designation without much practical consequence, Congress leader Shashi Tharoor has said.

Tharoor is leading a multi-party Parliamentary delegation to the US to brief key interlocutors about the threat of Pakistan-backed terrorism faced by India and India’s strong resolve against terrorism.

“These committees all work on consensus and it's not really possible for a chairman to single-handedly get something through that the others resist or push a particular line that other countries are not in favour of,” Tharoor said during an interaction at the Indian Embassy here on Thursday.

Pakistan, a non-permanent member of the Security Council for the 2025-26 term, will chair the Council’s Taliban Sanctions Committee for 2025 and will be vice-chair of the Counter-Terrorism Committee of the 15-nation UN organ.

Guyana and Russia will be vice-chair of the 1988 Taliban Sanctions Committee. Algeria will chair the 1373 Counter-Terrorism Committee while France and Russia will be the other vice-chairs.

Pakistan will also be co-chair of the Informal Working Groups on Documentation and Other Procedural Questions and on the General UNSC Sanctions Issues.

India has consistently reminded the international community that Pakistan is host to the world's largest number of UN-proscribed terrorists and entities. Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden was hiding in Pakistan’s Abbottabad for years and was killed in an operation by the US Navy Seals in May 2011. 

During the Parliamentary delegation’s interaction at the Embassy with think tankers and young professionals, Tharoor was asked about Pakistan chairing the two UNSC sanctions committees.

Noting that there are half a dozen counterterrorism committees of the UNSC, he said that Council members take turns presiding over such bodies.  “So as long as Pakistan is on the Security Council, this kind of “privilege” might come their way… We are not exactly friendless on the Security Council, so we're fairly confident that that is going to be a designation without much practical consequence,” he said.

He underlined that India’s Permanent Mission to the UN in New York will monitor this carefully. 

On Wednesday, during a press conference at the Embassy, responding to a question by PTI on Pakistan given charge of the two committees, Tharoor said “it's a Taliban Committee these guys have got. I don't know what the feelings of the Afghans are about this, but there you are.” Tharoor said UNSC members get the monthly rotating presidency of the Council.

“It's as simple as that. There's nothing more than that. And many of these positions are rotational…. There are a number of UN institutions and committees, and so one shouldn't exaggerate, all the members of the Council automatically belong to all these committees and chairmanship rotates.” He highlighted that there are various committees of the Security Council, such as one pursuant to resolution 1540 that deals with preventing non-state actors from acquiring, developing or using nuclear weapons.

“It would have been really funny if Pakistan had been given that particular chairmanship, but that at least mercifully, has not happened.” Pointing out that the UNSC committees work on consensus, he said there is no way that the chairman, whoever it may be, can get a particular point of view through or get something accepted or rejected merely by virtue of being chairman.

“The others will weigh in very heavily. And we are not exactly friendless in the Security Council, and therefore in its committees,” he said.

The delegation, which had arrived from India in New York on May 24, had travelled to Guyana, Panama, Colombia and Brazil before arriving in Washington Tuesday afternoon for the last leg of the tour.  Tharoor pointed out that the delegation did not go to the United Nations headquarters in New York.

“For us, it's more a series of bilateral exercises with countries that we believe need to be sensitised to our point of view, and as I said, that mission has been successful.” The delegation led by Tharoor includes Sarfaraz Ahmad (JMM), Ganti Harish Madhur Balayogi (TDP), Shashank Mani Tripathi (BJP), Bhubaneswar Kalita (BJP), Milind Deora (Shiv Sena), Tejasvi Surya (BJP) and India’s former Ambassador to the US Taranjit Sandhu.

It met US Vice President J D Vance, with Tharoor describing the meeting as “excellent”.

A parliamentary delegation from Pakistan led by Chairman of the Pakistan People’s Party and former Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari also landed in the US at the same time as the Tharoor-led delegation from India.

Bhutto met UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres with his delegation as well as Security Council Ambassadors in Pakistan’s bid to internationalise the conflict with India as well as the Kashmir issue.

Tripathi added that during the delegation’s travels, countries voiced support for a permanent seat for India at the UN Security Council.

“So this whole idea of Security Council that we've been saying, what was very interesting for us is that other countries are thinking the same about India, which is a very helpful thing.” Sandhu added this highlights how seriously Pakistan will take terrorism, especially in the "responsible position" they are given and it also talks of how much authority and power the Pakistani “General or Field Marshal” has given the delegation led by Bhutto.