United Nations: A UNSC statement condemning the recent terror attack in Karachi was twice stalled by the US and Germany, delaying its issuance to give a message to Pakistan over it blaming India for the incident and Prime Minister Imran Khan calling Osama bin Laden a martyr, according to sources.
The 15-nation UN Security Council issued a press statement on Wednesday to condemn the heinous and cowardly terrorist attack on Pakistan Stock Exchange in Karachi.
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Pakistan's all-weather ally' China drafted the statement, which was put under a silence procedure, under which if no member state raises any objections to the draft within a specified time period, it is considered adopted.
Germany was the first to break the silence procedure, delaying the issuance of the press statement. The deadline was extended till 10 AM July 1 (local time) and it was then that the US broke the silence for the second time, further delaying the statement from being issued.
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Sources said that the delay was to "send a message to Pakistan that it cannot, on the one hand, call 9/11 mastermind Laden a martyr and link India to the Karachi attack, and on the other hand, expect the unequivocal condemnation of the attack against it.
New Delhi had hit out at Pakistan's Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi for his "absurd comments" linking India to the terror attack.
In a strongly-worded response, external affairs ministry's spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said that Islamabad can't shift the blame on India for its domestic problems, and unlike Pakistan, India has no hesitation in condemning terrorism anywhere in the world including in Karachi.
PTI
