Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to raise with Chinese President Xi Jinping,the issue of China putting a “technical hold” on India’s move in the United Nations to question Pakistan on the release of 26/11 mastermind Zaki-ur Rehman Lakhvi. Sources told The Indian Express that PM will take up the matter when the two leaders meet on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in Russia’s Ufa next week. [related-post] Modi is also expected to raise the issue of Lakhvi’s bail with Pakistan PM Nawaz Sharif, if they meet on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit. Modi and Sharif’s paths might cross in Ufa, since both India and Pakistan are vying for the grouping’s membership. The BRICS and the SCO summits are being held back-to-back in Ufa on July 9 and 10. The sanctions regime on “Al Qaeda and associated individuals and entities” was established by the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1267 on October 15, 1999. Because the 1267 committee officially takes decisions by consensus, the five permanent members can exercise their veto by placing a proposal on “technical hold” — which delays the case for three months before it can come back before the committee. The government had taken up the issue of violation of the 1267 sanctions regime in respect of Lakhvi, only to be blocked by China. “Our concerns in this matter were conveyed to the Chair of the 1267 Committee. We also raised this bilaterally with the other members of the Committee. In the case of China, this matter has been taken up at the highest level,’’ MEA spokesperson Vikas Swarup had said on June 23. China pushed for a “technical hold” arguing that India had not provided “sufficient information” in support of its case. Lakhvi was released from Adiala prison on April 10, after Lahore High Court dismissed his detainment order. On May 3, India’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Asoke Mukerji, wrote to the chairman of the 1267 committee, seeking a probe into who had paid, or stood guarantee for, Lakhvi’s bail, as he is on the sanctions list.
