Mayur MohtaIndian diplomat Raghoo Puri said Dawood is a wanted criminal in India and, as per the UN listing, lives in Pakistan.
India Calls Out UN Report Over Dawood Ibrahim Tag
India on Wednesday slammed UN rapporteur Ben Saul over his counter-terrorism report. New Delhi demanded higher standards of impartiality from him. The report had called underworld don Dawood Ibrahim the leader of the “India-based” D-Company gang with terror links.
Special rapporteur Ben Saul released the report in July. It was titled “Distinguishing organized crime from terrorism to protect human rights.” The report referred to Dawood Ibrahim’s D-Company as “India-based.” Special rapporteurs are not paid directly by the UN. They are meant to work independently of the organisation.
India Insists Dawood Lives In Pakistan
Raghoo Puri is India’s First Secretary at the Permanent Mission of India to the UN. He raised “serious concern” over the rapporteur “releasing reports with factual inaccuracies while not being held accountable for them.”
Puri said Dawood is wanted in India. He added that the UN’s own listing entry shows Dawood was living in Pakistan.
He pointed out that the report mentioned the Security Council listing D-Company’s chief in 2003. The listing cited his links to Al-Qaeda. But Puri argued “this line paints a very different picture from the actual reality.”
He said D-Company and its listed leader have been wanted in India since 1993. This follows terror attacks from that year. “This is clearly written in the narrative summary of reasons of listing under the 1267 sanctions regime,” Puri said.
He called it unfortunate that this fact was left out. “Not mentioning this fact is regrettable, and such incompetence on the part of special mandate holders does this organisation tremendous harm,” Puri added.
Puri told the assembly that India wanted Dawood well before his 2003 listing. He said Dawood was listed then for ties to Al-Qaeda and Osama bin Laden. At the time, Dawood was operating from outside India.
“He Resides Where Bin Laden Was Found”
Puri said Dawood remains a wanted man in India even today. He added that Dawood “resides in the same country where Osama bin Laden was found and neutralised.” He meant Pakistan.
Osama bin Laden planned the 9/11 attacks of 2001. Those attacks killed nearly 3,000 people in the US. He was found and killed inside a fortified compound in Pakistan’s Abbottabad.
India has repeatedly told the world that 9/11’s planners were not hiding in some lawless border zone. They were found in a guarded, settled area of Pakistan instead.
In September this year, India’s Permanent Representative to the UN made a similar point. Harish Parvathaneni told the assembly that bin Laden and Khalid Sheikh Mohammed were found in populated areas. They were not hiding in remote locations.
India Hits Back At Pakistan Over Kashmir
Puri also responded to statements made by Pakistan’s delegation. He reaffirmed that Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh belong to India.
“It seems to have become fashionable for sponsors of terror to use human rights and the framework of counterterrorism to justify their misdeeds. The human rights framework cannot be the refuge of the perpetrators of terror and those who propagate radicalisation and extremism. Terrorism can never be justified,” he said.
“Regarding the statement just made by the delegate of Pakistan, everyone in this room knows that what has been mentioned against my country, including about the Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, is pure propaganda made for very narrow political gains. And these have been on account of the actual rulers of Pakistan, which is its military,” he said.
He added, “I would like to reiterate for the record that Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh are inalienable parts of India, have been so, and will always remain so.”
India Previously Slammed UN Over “Selective Targeting”
On Tuesday, India said human rights should not become a tool for political pressure. This came after more than 20 UN human rights experts in Geneva raised concerns. They flagged a “repeatedly heavy-handed police response” to youth-led protests in Delhi.
Barkha Tamrakar is deputy secretary in the ministry of external affairs. She gave India’s statement at the UN General Assembly’s Third Committee. “India engages with international human rights mechanisms, but such engagement must be based on dialogue, consultation, cooperation, with non-selectivity and transparency as guiding principles,” she said.
Tamrakar said India was open to discussing specific cases with proper proof. However, she opposed any “attempt to convert unverified allegations, incomplete statistics or a report that contains no India country observation into a negative characterisation of the world’s largest democracy.”
This response followed criticism from UN experts over police handling of youth protests. These protests spread across Delhi and other areas over three months. Experts urged authorities to protect peaceful protesters and ensure justice for alleged rights violations.
Last week, India dismissed a UN human rights expert’s report as “hearsay.” That report mentioned a “satirical political movement” formed by young people in the country. It claimed members of this movement faced retaliation. New Delhi asked the expert to “verify” the claims before “vilifying issues based on unverified allegations.”
Akshay Didwaniya
Aditya Didwaniya
The BRICS Times