Fighting terror: TTP added to UN sanctions list

Pakistan government backs the move.

NEW YORK: The UN Security Council (UNSC) on Friday put the Pakistan Taliban on its international anti-terrorism sanctions list in a move highlighting the growing threat from the group, diplomats said.

The adding of the Tehrik-E-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) group to the sanctions list also comes as the UNSC eases pressure on the Afghan Taliban in a bid to encourage it to join peace moves in Afghanistan.

The Pakistan Taliban has been blamed for attacks that have left hundreds dead in Pakistan but also been linked to an attempted bombing in Times Square, New York last year.

Britain's UN ambassador Mark Lyall Grant welcomed the addition of the Pakistan Taliban to counter-terrorism list, a moved which has been backed by the Pakistan government.

"It sends a powerful signal of the international community's solidarity and resolve in the fight against the TTP and international terrorism," Lyall Grant said in a statement.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 30^th,  2011.