NEW DELHI: India on Tuesday welcomed the UN Security Council decision to declare Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) leader Abdul Rehman Makki as a global terrorist and said it would continue to press the international community to take credible, verifiable and irreversible action against the menace.
External Affairs Ministry spokesman Arindam Bagchi said threats from terrorism in the region remain high and sanctions by the UNSC were an effective tool to curb such threats.
“We welcome the decision of the UN Security Council’s ISIL and Al Qaida Sanctions Committee to list Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorist Abdul Rehman Makki, who is also the brother-in-law of LeT leader Hafiz Saeed,” Bagchi said in response to questions.
Makki, the 68-year-old brother-in-law of Jamat-ud Dawa (JuD) chief and Mumbai attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed, was designated a global terrorist by the UN after China lifted its hold on a joint India-US proposal to blacklist the deputy chief of Pakistan-based terror group LeT.
Bagchi said Makki has occupied various leadership roles in LeT, including raising funds for the organisation.
“Threats from terrorist organisations in the region remain high and listings and sanctions by the UNSC, are an effective tool to curb such threats and dismantle terror infrastructure in the region,” Bagchi said.
He said India remained 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.
In Beijing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin described terrorism as a “common enemy of humanity” and praised Pakistan’s efforts in taking action against the scourge.
“The relevant people have been convicted and sentenced by Pakistan. The listing also shows Pakistan’s firm combat against terrorism, it is a recognition,” Wang said, without elaborating why China, a close ally of Pakistan, decided to put a technical hold in the first place.
In the past also China has been stalling India’s efforts to impose UNSC sanctions on Pakistan-based terror operatives. Jamaat-ud-Dawa chief Hafiz Saeed and Jaish-e-Mohammad chief Masood Azhar were placed under UNSC sanctions after years of diplomatic manoeuvres by India.
The proposals to impose sanctions on Hafiz Saeed’s son Talha Saeed, LeT leader Shahid Mehmood, JeM operative Abdul Rauf Asghar, also a key conspirator of the December 2001 attack on the Parliament building, and LeT’s Sajid Mir are still pending before the UN Security Council.
“When I was the Ambassador at the UN, it took us 10 years to designate Masood Azhar. It has taken a much shorter time for the next level of success,” Syed Akbaruddin, India’s former Permanent Representative at the UN, said.
“The hope is that those who are in the pipeline, now, will be speeded up further, so it clearly indicates a change of pace, a faster ability to get things done and our willingness to take on difficult circumstances. We were able to thwart their (Chinese) stranglehold indicating a willingness that today, we are not the same India of the past. We are willing to confront and push towards our goals and our interests,” Akbaruddin said.
Makki’s listing comes seven months after China, a close ally of Pakistan, had put a hold on a joint proposal by India and the US to designate the head of the political affairs wing of JuD/LeT. (PTI)