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Mr. President,
We congratulate you and the delegation of France for the excellent work of the Security Council done under your leadership this month. We also felicitate the Permanent Representative of Colombia to the United Nations and his team for successful Presidency of the Council during the month of April.
We support the efforts of the three subsidiary committees of the Security Council in promoting greater transparency and dialogue with Member States in regard to their respective areas of activities.
Mr. President,
Pakistan strongly condemns terrorism in all its forms and manifestations, committed by whomever, wherever, and for whatever purposes. Terrorism and extremism should not be associated with any religion, race, ethnicity, faith, value system, culture or society. No religious tradition or doctrine should be depicted as encouraging or inspiring acts of terrorism.
Mr. President,
Roughly seventy two hours ago, two terrorist suicide bombers attacked a para-military training centre in the Northwest Pakistan, killing more than 80 soldiers of the Frontier Corps, and injuring more than 70 persons. The incident has once again highlighted the enormous sacrifices that Pakistan continues to render in order to rid the world of terrorism.
Mr. President,
Pakistan needs solid and unwavering support of the international community in its fight against terrorism. Pakistan has deployed 160,000 troops on its border with Afghanistan and has set up 822 border posts to interdict Al-Qaida/Taliban members. As a result of terrorist acts and our efforts to root out terrorism, Pakistan has lost 30, 000 men, women, and children and more than 5,000 armed forces personnel.
The international community needs to promote economic and social development as part of a holistic approach to curb and eliminate extremism and terrorism. The promotion of socio-economic development in places afflicted by extremism should be a high priority.
Mr. President,
Pakistan has made considerable progress in countering the financing of terrorism. Pakistan has become a party to the UN Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism and has enacted a landmark Anti Money Laundering Bill. A Financial Monitoring Unit has been established in the State Bank of Pakistan to monitor suspicious financial transactions. Hundreds of bank accounts to the tune of 750.8 million Rupees have been frozen. We are implementing the comprehensive international standards embodied in the 40 recommendations and 9 special recommendations of the Financial Action Task Force. We are active members of the Asia Pacific Group on Money Laundering.
The CTED organized a workshop for Pakistani parliamentarians in Islamabad in November 2009. It also organized a study visit of Pakistan’s parliamentarians to Turkey in February this year. Today, the Executive Director of CTED Mr. Mike Smith is in Islamabad to organize a workshop for strengthening anti-money laundering laws and countering of financing for terrorism.
We have noted the work programme of the Counter-Terrorism Committee (CTC) for 2011 contained in document S/2011/223 and appreciate the efforts of the Committee to enhance transparency by holding informal briefings for Member States.
Mr. President,
The Al Qaida and Taliban Sanctions Committee and its Monitoring Team have a difficult task to perform. We appreciate the efforts of the 1267 Sanctions Committee to bring clarity to its working methods and note that the Committee has made an effort to improve its guidelines. There are many interesting ideas in the eleventh report of the Monitoring Team to improve the performance and enhance the transparency in the work of the Committee. Some of those ideas are hard to implement and others can be incorporated easily in the current regime. Different ideas to enhance efficacy of the 1267 sanctions regime need to be studied in detail.
We are of the view that the institution of the Ombudsperson must be strengthened and her views on listing and de-listing issues be given due weightage. In case of disagreement between observations of the Ombudsperson and the decision of the Committee, the rationale for Committee’s decision should be made public in the interest of greater transparency.
We are not surprised that decisions of domestic and international courts and tribunals on the 1267 sanctions regime have garnered world- wide attention. The litigation relating to individuals and entities on the Consolidated List in Canada, European Union, European Court of Human Rights, UK, Pakistan, and the US has highlighted legal challenges faced by the sanctions regime in various parts of the world. The preventive nature of the sanctions makes the listings very simple and enforcement friendly. However, the legal community is more inclined to verifiable evidence which could be acceptable in a court of law. The questions of due process and effective remedy are at the heart of courts’ deliberations. We will have to consider exclusive sharing of the verifiable evidence with the Courts and fixation of a time limit for the effectiveness of a listing.
Pakistan was a member of the Security Council when resolution 1540 was adopted. We agreed that 1540 resolution was a timely measure to address the threat of proliferation of WMD and their means of delivery to non-state actors. We have consistently identified the need to make follow-up mechanism of 1540 more inclusive, transparent, and balanced in terms of responsibilities of State and the international cooperation available to them to achieve its objectives.
We believe that the recently adopted Security Council resolution 1977 which extended the mandate of 1540 committee should have been negotiated after an open debate by the Security Council where all Members of the United Nations would have had the opportunity to express their views, inter alia, on scope, limitations, future direction, tenure of mandate and experiences on implementation of 1540. This open debate would have then provided the basis for the negotiations and extension of 1540. This open and inclusive process for discussing an important resolution would have helped to increase the level of confidence of all the UN Member States in this process who are ultimately required to implement the resolution which has its roots in state driven efforts.
I thank you Mr. President.