Guterres condemns terrorist attack in Kashmir

By Arul Louis

United Nations, Feb 15 (IANS) UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has condemned the suicide attack on Indian security forces in Kashmir and called for bringing the attackers to justice.

Answering a reporter's question at his briefing on Thursday, his spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said: "We strongly condemn today's attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district and express our deepest condolences to the families of those who lost their lives and to the government and people of India."

He added a "call for those behind the attack to be brought to justice."

An operative of the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeM) group crashed a car bomb into a convoy of the Central Reserve Police Force in Lethpora area of Pulwama district on the Srinagar-Jammu Highway on Thursday, killing 45 troopers and wounding 38.

Asked about India's demand for placing JeM head Azhar Mohammed on the UN's list of international terrorists, Dujarric replied: "The issue of listing terrorist organisations is one that is left... is in the hands of the Security Council."

Azhar has had the protection of veto-wielding China, which blocked requests to declare to have him designated as a terrorist by a Sanctions Committee of the Security Council.

After the attack, India renewed its call for declaring him a global terrorist facing sanctions.

"We reiterate our appeal to members of international community to support a proposal to list terrorists, including JeM Chief, as a designated terrorist under 1267 Sanctions Committee of UN Security Council and ban terror organisations operating from territories controlled by Pakistan," the External Affairs Ministry said.

(Arul Louis can be reached at arul.l@ians.in and followed on Twitter @arulouis)