ISLAMABAD: The United Nations has designated an anti-India cleric being held in Pakistan as a world terrorist, the world physique’s second such designation stemming from the 2008 assaults in Mumbai that killed 166 folks.
The announcement relating to Abdul Rehman Makki was hailed by India on Tuesday, a day after the choice.
The Overseas Workplace mentioned Pakistan is itself a sufferer of terrorism and helps counter-terrorism efforts on the worldwide degree, together with on the United Nations.
Makki, 68, is a senior determine within the proscribed Lashkar-e-Taiba group. He was arrested in Punjab in 2019 and convicted in November and December 2020 in two separate circumstances on fees of terror financing.
Makki was sentenced to at least one yr in jail however officers say he’s nonetheless in custody with out offering a proof. He’s being held in Punjab pending his appeals, based on a number of authorities officers who’re aware of the case.
The UN Safety Council committee overseeing sanctions towards al-Qaida and Islamic State extremists and their associates put Makki on the sanctions blacklist after approval by the council’s 15 members.
Underneath the UN measure, Makki’s belongings could be frozen and he may also face a journey ban.
Makki is a detailed relative of Hafiz Saeed, one other cleric. Saeed, 72, is serving a 31-year jail sentence and was designated a terrorist by the USA and the UN Safety Council.
Saeed, like Makki, was by no means charged in reference to the Mumbai assaults that strained relations between Pakistan and India. He’s the founding father of Lashkar-e-Taiba, which was blamed by India for the assaults in India.
Monday’s UN Safety Council resolution got here after China lifted a maintain on including Makki, who has been beneath US sanctions since November 2010.
Mumtaz Zahra Baloch, the spokesperson at Overseas Workplace, mentioned: “Pakistan is a sufferer of terrorism and helps counter-terrorism efforts on the worldwide degree together with on the United Nations and different multilateral fora.”
Baloch mentioned in an announcement that “Pakistan has at all times known as for strict compliance with the Safety Council’s itemizing guidelines, procedures and established processes to keep up the integrity of the UN counter-terrorism regime.”
Since gaining independence from Britain in 1947, Pakistan and India, which have a historical past of bitter relations, have fought two of their three wars over Kashmir, which is break up between them and claimed by each in its entirety.