India has sharply criticised the UN Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights while countering terrorism, accusing him of “incompetence” for factual inaccuracies concerning the listing of Dawood Ibrahim, and skipping the mentioning of his current location: Pakistan.
Speaking at an interactive dialogue with the Special Rapporteur, Ben Saul, in the Third Committee of the UN General Assembly, First Secretary Raghoo Puri said the report correctly noted that in 2003 the Security Council listed the leader of the criminal group “D-Company” for association with Al-Qaida. “Read in isolation, this line paints a very different picture from the actual reality,” he said.
Puri pointed out that Dawood Ibrahim and his organisation have been wanted in India for terror attacks since 1993, a fact “clearly written in the narrative summary of the reasons of listing under the 1267 sanctions mechanism.” He described the omission as “regrettable,” adding that “such incompetence on part of special mandate holders does this organisation tremendous harm.” Dawood Ibrahim, long designated by the UN under its Al-Qaida sanctions regime, is the mastermind of the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts.
Correcting the record, the Indian diplomat stated: “This individual fled India much before the 2003 listing, and it was during this period, from outside my country, that he was listed for being associated with Al Qaida and Osama bin Laden. To date, he remains a wanted criminal in my country and as per the UN’s listing entry, resides in the same country where Osama bin Laden was found and neutralized.” Osama Bin Laden was killed by American forces in Pakistan.
India also expressed concern over “a clear bias in other parts of the report” and urged that “the highest standards of probity and impartiality be maintained.” The Indian diplomat pointed,,“It seems to have become fashionable for sponsors of terror to use Human Rights and the framework of Counter Terrorism to justify their misdeeds. HR Frameworks cannot be the refuge of the perpetrators of terror and those who propagate radicalization and extremism. Terrorism can never be justified.”
Responding to a statement by the Pakistani delegate, Puri dismissed claims concerning the Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh as “pure propaganda made for very narrow political gains of the actual rulers of Pakistan, which is its military.” He reiterated that the territories “are an inalienable and integral part of India, have been so and will always remain so,” adding that he would “not like to dignify the statement of the Pakistani delegate with any further comment.”
