Puri elected Chairman of UNSC Counter-terrorism committee

Lalit K Jha
Washington, Jan 5 (PTI) Indian Ambassador to the United
Nations Hardeep Singh Puri has been elected Chairman of the
all important Security Council Committee on Counter-terrorism
and two other key committees of this 15-member body.
A formal announcement in this regard will be made on
Wednesday, sources told PTI after the conclusion of silent
procedure during which there was no challenge to India being
elected as Chairman of these three important UNSC committees.
Elected for a two-year term, Puri would chair the UN
Security Council Counter-Terrorism Committee.
He replaces Ertugrul Apakan, Ambassador and Permanent
Representative of Turkey, whose term expired on December 31,
2010.
Guided by Security Council resolutions 1373 (2001) and
1624 (2005), the Security Council Counter-terrorism Committee
works to bolster the ability of United Nations member states
to prevent terror acts both within their borders and across
regions.
It was established in the wake of the September 11 terror
attacks in the United States.
The Indian Ambassador has been elected as chairman of the
Working Group of the UN Security Council on individuals,
groups or entities involved in or associated with terrorist
activities and possible compensation for their victims,
established by its resolution number 1566 of 2004.
The post was again vacated by the Turkish Ambassador.
Puri has been elected as chairman of the Security Council
Committee concerning Somalia and Eretria established by
resolutions 751 in 1992 and 1907 in 2009.
The post was earlier held by Mexico.
Informal discussions of the Security Council were held
on Tuesday to discuss and finalize the agenda and programme of
the 15-member body for January.
Bosnia and Herzegovinian hold the monthly rotating
presidency of the UN Security Council.
The first formal meeting of the UN Security Council is
scheduled to be held on Wednesday.
India, which joins the Security Council after a gap of 19
years, has said counter-terrorism would be its top priority
during its two-year term.
"One of our major pre-occupation is the issue of
terrorism. I expect that in the coming months we would have to
address that issue through the work of the Council," Puri had
said earlier.
"You can expect India to play a very active role in that.
This committee deals with issues like building capacities,
normative rules dealing with counter-terrorism and dealing
with India that is a major area of interest," the Ambassador
said.
"I am not suggesting that this is something that we would
do immediately on that is starting immediately as we start the
work of the council. But in the coming months, we would give a
very high priority to this one," he said. PTI