Pakistan has requested a key United Nations (UN) committee to delist three of its nationals, including Aamir Ali Chaudhry, who was allegedly involved in a failed terror attack on Times Square in New York in 2010, according to The Economic Times.
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The request is seen as Islamabad’s effort to reduce its domestic list of terrorists, the ET report said. In September, Islamabad moved the UN 1267 sanctions committee, which covers individuals and entities associated with Al-Qaida, its founder Osama bin Laden or the Taliban.
While Chaudhry had links with the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), in November, Pakistan presented a dossier accusing India of aiding and abetting terror outfits such as TTP and extremists in Waziristan, Pakistani daily The Express Tribune reported.
In a press conference on November 14, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi and a top military officer categorically stated that India was sabotaging the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and is supporting terrorism in Pakistan. Beijing and Islamabad are believed to be collaborating to give legitimacy to this dossier, the ET report said.
According to the UN Security Council, Chaudhry was identified as a terrorist on October 18, 2012, for his alleged association with Al-Qaida. He was listed on the basis of evidence for “participating in the financing, planning, facilitating, preparing, or perpetrating acts or activities in conjunction with, under the name of, on behalf of, or in support of” Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan.
The TTP operative has served as an electronics and explosives expert for the organization. For the May 2010 Times Square attack, Chaudhry had advised a TTP facilitator on fertilizer selection for the bomb.
In 2010, Faisal Shahzad, another TTP operative, was convicted with life imprisonment for the botched Times Square car bombing. He was accused of attempting to set off a vehicle bomb at Times Square, a highly populated target, on May 1, 2010. While the bomb failed to detonate, he was arrested while trying to escape to Pakistan from New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport.
Chaudhry along with Maulvi Adam Khan Achekzai and Qari Ayyub Bashir figured in the list for providing material, logistical and financial support to the three designated organizations — the Taliban, the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), and the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU), according to a statement issued by the US Treasury Department.
Until mid-2010, Chaudhry was allegedly responsible for manufacturing and preparing circuit boards for explosive devices. He also contributed to TTP’s electronic needs for producing landmines and improvised explosive devices.
In addition, he was involved in planning a rocket attack on Pakistan’s parliament building and detonating explosives on an aircraft. Also, a volunteer to conduct a suicide operation, Chaudhry was tasked with expanding the TTP network outside Pakistan. He had joined TTP in 2009 and had traveled to Pakistan’s Federally Administered Tribal Areas to participate in TTP-sponsored militant training.
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