New Delhi:- New Delhi has strongly rejected a United Nations (UN) Special Rapporteur’s remarks describing the D-Company, led by gangster Dawood Ibrahim, as an “India-based” criminal gang. India has pointed out clear errors in the report and warned that such incompetence causes serious damage to the global organisation.
Raghu Puri, First Secretary at India’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations, issued the strong response on Wednesday while replying to a report by Ben Saul, the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism, during the Third Committee of the UN General Assembly.
Puri said, “My delegation has repeatedly raised this serious concern at other forums as well—that reports containing factual errors are being issued by the Special Rapporteur without any accountability.”
He said Saul’s report stated that in 2003, the Security Council listed the leader of a criminal gang described as “India-based D-Company” for links with Al-Qaeda. Puri said, “When read in isolation, this line presents a picture that is far removed from the actual reality.”
Strongly rejecting the description of D-Company as India-based, Puri said the criminal organisation and its listed leader, Dawood Ibrahim, have been wanted in India since 1993 in connection with terrorist attacks.
Referring to the details of the reasons for listing under the 1267 sanctions regime—the UN Security Council’s Al-Qaeda sanctions regime—he said, “This is clearly stated in the narrative of the reasons for listing.”
Puri said, “It is regrettable that this fact has not been mentioned, and such incompetence on the part of Special Mandate Holders causes great damage to this institution.”
He said, “Let me correct this for the record. This individual had fled India long before the 2003 listing, and it was during this very period of his stay outside our country that he was listed for his links with Al-Qaeda and Osama bin Laden.”
Making an explicit reference to Pakistan, Puri said Dawood Ibrahim remains a fugitive criminal wanted in India and, according to the UN listing, resides in the same country where Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden was located and killed. Bin Laden was killed by US Navy SEALs during a raid in the Pakistani city of Abbottabad in 2011.
