The ISIL (Da’esh) and Al-Qaida Sanctions Committee of the United Nations Security Council on Tuesday designated Pakistan-based Abdul Rehman Makki as ‘Global Terrorist’. A brother-in-law of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) chief Hafiz Saeed, Makki has been designated a terrorist by the Committee, that his involvement in ‘raising funds, recruiting and radicalizing youth to violence, and planning attacks in India, especially in Jammu and Kashmir’.
Responding to the action against Makki, which would subject him to an assets freeze, travel ban, and arms embargo, the Ministry of External Affairs, said that the decision of the UN Security Council’s ISIL and Al-Qaeda Sanctions Committee was ‘welcomed by India’.
The National Spokesperson of the MEA, Arindam Bagchi said, “India remains committed to pursuing a zero-tolerance approach to terrorism and will continue to press the international community to take credible, verifiable and irreversible action against terrorism.”
Timeline of events that led to Abdul Rehman Makki’s UN ‘Global terrorist’ designation
- India had made the listing of Pak-based terrorists a top priority of its UNSC tenure during 2021-22. A total of five names were submitted by India for designation under 1267 in 2022–Abdul Rehman Makki (LeT), Abdul Rauf Asghar (JeM), Sajid Mir (LeT), Shahid Mahmood (LeT), and Talha Saeed (LeT).
- Each of these five names was initially placed on technical hold by one member state while all other 14 members of the Council agreed to their listing.
- Makki’s case was submitted on June 1, 2022, by India with the US joining as a co-designating state.
- On June 16, China put a hold, at the last moment. India had back then, observed that the move signaled China’s “double standards.” China responded by saying that it ‘only stuck to procedure’.
- After the six-month period, China again renewed its hold in mid-December.
- However, the Xi Jinping-led country lifted the hold, reasoning that the listing of terrorists is conducive to enhancing global counterterrorism cooperation, and praised Islamabad for backing counter-terrorism efforts.
India was a member of the UN Security Council for the 2021-22 term and even though the successful listing comes just after the end of the country’s tenure, this was a culmination of long-standing and persistent efforts made over the last several months, along with partner countries.