Pakistan (Commonwealth Union)_ The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) has designated Pakistani terrorist Abdul Rehman Makki as a global terrorist under the ISIL (Da’esh) and Al-Qa’eda Sanctions Committee. The decision was taken following China’s denial of India’s request to designate the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) chief as a global terrorist last year. India criticized China in June 2022 for blocking the plan to include terrorist Abdul Rehman Makki on the Sanctions Committee, commonly known as the UNSC 1267 Committee.
According to the statement from the UNSC, “On 16 January 2023, the Security Council Committee pursuant to Resolutions 1267 (1999), 1989 (2011), and 2253 (2015) concerning ISIL (Da’esh), Al-Qaida, and associated individuals, groups, undertakings, and entities approved the addition of the entry specified below to its ISIL (Da’esh) and Al-Qaida Sanctions List of individuals and entities subject to the asset freeze, travel ban and arms embargo set out in paragraph 1 of Security Council resolution 2610 (2021) and adopted under Chapter VII of the Charter of the United Nations”.
India and the United States have already designated Makki as a terrorist under their own national laws. He has been active in fund-raising, recruiting, radicalizing youngsters to violence, and planning assaults in India, particularly in Jammu and Kashmir states. Makki is the brother-in-law of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) leader Hafiz Saeed, who is the perpetrator of the 26/11 attacks. He has held several leadership positions within LeT, which according to the United States is a foreign terrorist organization (FTO). He has also contributed to the funding of LeT operations.
According to the US State Department, Makki was convicted of one count of terrorism funding in 2020 by a Pakistani anti-terrorism court and sentenced to jail. In the past, China has always blocked the naming of known terrorists, notably those from Pakistan. It had frequently opposed the designation of Maulana Masood Azhar, the leader of the Pakistan-based and UN-proscribed terrorist organization Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM).
