Context: In June 2025, Pakistan assumed significant roles in multiple influential committees under the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), creating concerns for India.
Relevance of the Topic: Mains: Implications of Pakistan’s appointment to key UNSC Counter-Terror Panels for India and strategic options available to India.
Recently, Pakistan has been appointed to multiple influential committees under the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), including:
- Chair of the Taliban Sanctions Committee: Committee established under Resolution 1988 (2011) oversees the implementation of sanctions against Taliban.
- Vice-Chair of the Counter-Terrorism Committee: CTC monitors implementation of Resolution 1373 (2001), a core component of the UN’s global counter-terrorism architecture.
- Co-chair of the Working Group on Sanctions and the Informal Working Group on Documentation: The sanctions group is tasked with evaluating and improving the structure and effectiveness of the UN’s sanctions regimes, while the documentation group works to enhance the UNSC’s transparency, efficiency and inclusiveness.
This development has raised serious concerns in India, given Pakistan’s historical association with terrorist organisations.
Why is Pakistan's appointment problematic?
- The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) kept Pakistan under its grey list from 2018 to 2022 for terror financing deficiencies. This adds to global concerns about Pakistan's credibility and transparency in implementing anti-terror mechanisms.
- Pakistan has long been accused of harboring and supporting terror groups, including the Taliban, Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), and Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM).
Implications for India:
- Diplomatic Setback despite Proactive Outreach: Undermines India’s longstanding efforts to project Pakistan as the epicentre of global terrorism. Shows the limited success of India’s recent diplomatic missions to UNSC capitals and multilateral forums and the growing clout of Pakistan-China diplomatic synergy, especially in multilateral decision-making.
- Increased Risk of Anti-India Propaganda: With Pakistan’s appointment to these key UNSC counter-terror panels, there is a real risk projecting India as a source of terrorism, especially in Balochistan. The counter-terror committee could ask for reports on terrorist activities in Balochistan.
Strategic options available to India:
- Use Friendly Chairs and Vice Chairs to block Anti-India moves: Engage with co-chairs and vice-chairs to counterbalance Pakistan’s influence. E.g.,
- France and Russia: co-vice-chairs of CTC alongside Pakistan
- Guyana and Russia: Vice-chairs of the Taliban Sanctions Committee
- Greece: Co-chair of the Sanctions Working Group etc.
- Denmark: Chair of the powerful 1267 ISIL-Al Qaeda Sanctions Committee (Russia and Sierra Leone as co-chairs)
- Continue to raise India’s concerns in the UNSC and multilateral fora.
India is hoping that these co-chairs and vice-chairs will act as a counter-balance and counter-weight to keep Pakistan’s anti-India propaganda moves in check.