The UN Security Council Sunday asked countries to cooperate with Pakistan toward bringing perpetrators of this week’s terror attacks to justice as media reports said the attackers involved in targeting the Chinese Consulate in Karachi had international support.
The 15-member body condemned the terror attacks – that marked a sudden return of terror incidents to the country – and expressed appreciation for the swift Pakistani response.
“The members of the Security Council underlined the need to hold perpetrators, organizers, financiers and sponsors of these reprehensible acts of terrorism accountable and bring them to justice, and urged all States, in accordance with their obligations under international law and relevant Security Council resolutions, to cooperate actively with the Government of Pakistan and all other relevant authorities in this regard,” the Security Council said.
In a statement, the Council said “the members of the Security Council appreciated the swift response of the Pakistani authorities, expressed their deepest sympathy and condolences to the families of the victims and to the Government of Pakistan and they wished a speedy and full recovery to those who were injured.”
According to media reports, Balochistan Liberation Army claimed responsibility for the failed terror attack on Chinese Consulate in southwestern port city of Karachi and that the mastermind of the attack is said to be in India, where he went on an Afghani passport.
The BLA posted its claim in a tweet after which Twitter shuttered down the account of the militant organization that has been fighting the Pakistani state. Islamabad has often blamed India for financing insurgency in Balochistan.
In another attack on the same day, Pakistan lost 35 people when a suicide bomber detonated his explosives in a market in Orakzai in the northwest.
The Security Council in its statement said terrorism cannot by justified and that terror in all its forms and manifestation is a threat to international peace.
“The members of the Security Council stressed the fundamental principle of the inviolability of diplomatic and consular premises, and the obligations on host Governments, including under the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations and the 1963 Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, to take all appropriate steps to protect diplomatic and consular premises against any intrusion or damage and to prevent any disturbance of the peace of these missions or impairment of their dignity and any attack on diplomatic premises, agents and consular officers,” the Security Council said in a news release in reference to the Karachi attack.
“The members of the Security Council reaffirmed that terrorism in all its forms and manifestations constitutes one of the most serious threats to international peace and security,” it said.
“The members of the Security Council reiterated that any acts of terrorism are criminal and unjustifiable, regardless of their motivation, wherever, whenever and by whomsoever committed.
They reaffirmed the need for all States to combat by all means, in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations and other obligations under international law, including international human rights law, international refugee law and international humanitarian law, threats to international peace and security caused by terrorist acts.”
