In what has come as a result of India’s hard diplomacy and tough negotiations, the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) listed Pakistan based terrorist Abdul Rehman Makki as a global terrorist under its ISIL (Da’esh) and Al-Qaida Sanctions Committee, which is also known as the UNSC 1267 Committee. The listing of Makki has come after China last year put on India’s bid to name the Lashkar-e-Tayyaba (LeT) leader, who is the brother-in-law of LeT chief and 26/11 masterminder Hafiz Saeed, a global terrorist. After India’s persistent efforts to galvanize the international community to put pressure on China, Beijing finally relented and removed its technical hold on the process. Needless to say, listing Makki as a global terrorist has come as a great deal of relief for the Indian diplomatic team which has been active from day one to ensure that China drops its hold, and the process gets through. But, at the same time, the development at the UNSC sent out two important messages. One, India’s diplomatic strategy to put pressure on China has started showing results. There are some more terrorists who could not be listed due to China’s technical hold in the past. So, blacklisting of Makki has given India a lot of hope that its perseverance will again pay off, and Beijing will allow remaining names to be listed by the UNSC 1267 Committee. By all indications, India is ready to continue its massive diplomatic campaign to achieve the next goal. MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi’s statement is quite important in this context when he said, “India remains committed to pursuing a zero tolerance approach to terrorism and will continue to press the international community to take credible, verifiable, and irreversible action against terrorism.” The message was loud and clear that India’s campaign is not going to end after Makki’s listing, as New Delhi would continue to step up pressure on both China and Pakistan to take action against terrorists. The second important message that Makki’s listing sent out is that the UNSC move on the LeT terrorist has vindicated India’s position that Pakistan is the epicentre of international terrorism. In other words, the message has gone out from the UNSC that the world community has confirmed that terrorist entities and individuals continue to enjoy safe havens in Pakistan. Only a few weeks ago, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar had said that Pakistan is the epicentre of terrorism. Experts believe that listing of Pakistan based terrorist Makki by the UNSC committee is a confirmation of the fact that terrorists like him are active on the soil of India’s western neighbour. As Makki’s main work was to raise funds, and recruit and radicalise young men to carry out terror attacks in India, particularly in Jammu and Kashmir, the listing of this Lashkar terrorist as a global terrorist will help New Delhi to establish further that Pakistan is harbouring the individuals who are involved in cross-border terrorism against India. In this context Jaishankar’s remarks assume significance. He had recently said that he could have used much harsher words than the epicentre for Pakistan for its role in promoting cross-border terrorism. The evidence about Makki that Indian diplomats shared with the members of the UNSC clearly proves his role in cross-border terrorism against India. Now, more international pressure is required on Pakistan to ensure it takes action against the perpetrators of terror attacks in India. And, the world community would not hesitate to do so. After all, Makki’s involvement in attacks in India has been established by the evidence provided by Indian officials at the UNSC. He was also behind the 26/11 attacks in Mumbai. Pakistan never took any action against him despite all the dossiers of evidence handed over to it by India. Now the hope is high in the Indian diplomatic establishment that after the UNSC move on Makki, Pakistan will be under more pressure to take action against him and may be many more like him. The US must also keep pressure on Pakistan to take action not only against Makki but also against several more terrorists who are operating from the territory under Islamabad’s control. India and the US have already listed Makki as a terrorist under their domestic laws. It was in June last year when India along with the US moved the case to impose punitive sanctions on Makki under the UNSC 1267 Committee. This also signals that the US in future would be interested to work more closely with India against terrorism emanating from Pakistan. Obviously, both countries must continue to keep the pressure on China as well for further action with regard to more such cases at the UNSC.
