UN blacklists Pakistan’s Abdul Rehman Makki

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Key updates-

• The UN Security Council’s 1267 Al Qaeda Sanctions Committee added 68-year-old Makki, the brother-in-law of Hafiz Saeed, the founder of Lashkar-e-Taiba, to its list of designated terrorists recently after China withdrew its hold on a joint proposal by India and the US.
• 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 assets 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.

Who is Abdul Rehman Makki?

• Makki was mainly known for his proximity to Hafiz Saeed, until the latter was jailed in 2019 for 35 years. 
• He was born in Bahawalpur, Punjab Province of Pakistan.
• He continues to front for him now, as he had in the past when the LeT/Jamat-ud-Dawa (JuD) leader  Hafiz Saeed, listed by the UN Security Council as a terrorist after the 2008 Mumbai attacks, went in and out of house arrest.
• The sanctions committee said that while Makki has held his leadership positions within LeT and JUD, the LeT has been responsible for or had involvement in prominent attacks, including the Red Fort Attack in which six terrorists stormed the Red Fort on December 22, 2000, and opened indiscriminate fire on the security forces present.
• Makki too uses the title of Hafiz, an honorific for someone who has memorised the Quran, as well as the title of Naib Emir of JuD. 
• He would also be present at court hearings of Saeed’s petitions challenging his detention. 
• Known to be a fiery speaker, Makki has been a regular at the February Kashmir Solidarity Day rallies in Islamabad. 
• Kashmir solidarity day is officially observed in Pakistan on February 5. 
• At one such rally in 2010, two years after the Mumbai attacks, Makki threatened “rivers of blood” in India for not handing over Kashmir to Pakistan and threatened to seize it by force.

The 1267 Al Qaeda Sanctions Committee-

• The committee is part of the UN Security Council and its job is to implement international sanctions against terrorists. 
• The Al Qaeda committee was established as the Al-Qaida and Taliban Sanctions Committee on October 15, 1999, after Security Council Resolution 1267 designated al-Qaeda and the Taliban as terrorist bodies. 
• In 2011, a separate committee was formed for the Taliban.
• Resolution 1267 was adopted under Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter and requires all UN member states to freeze the assets of, prevent the entry into or transit through their territories by, and prevent the direct or indirect supply, sale and transfer of arms and military equipment to any individual or entity associated with Al-Qaida, Osama bin Laden and/or the Taliban as designated by the Committee.

Further reading: https://journalsofindia.com/unsc-1267-committee/

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