India has achieved a major diplomatic success in its fight against terrorism with the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) declaring Pakistan-based Abdul Rehman Makki a global terrorist, who is considered a mastermind of the 2008 Mumbai terror attack.

The UNSC took this decision on Monday night after China lifted its nearly seven-month-old block on a joint proposal by India and the US in the UN to blacklist the deputy chief of Lashkar-e-Tayyeba (LeT).

The UNSC’s Al Qaeda Sanctions Committee blacklisted Makki through consensus. Welcoming the UNSC’s India said threats from terrorism in the region remained high and sanctions by the UNSC were an effective tool to curb such threats.

Making this assertion, Ministry of External Affairs Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi also said India will continue to press the international community to take credible, verifiable and irreversible action against terrorism.

“We welcome the decision of the UN Security Council’s ISIL and Al Qaida Sanctions Committee to list Lashkar-e-Tayyeba (LeT) terrorist Abdul Rehman Makki, who is also the brother-in-law of LeT leader Hafiz Saeed,” Bagchi said.

He said Makki has occupied various leadership roles in LeT and was involved in raising funds for the organisation. “Threats from terrorist organisations in the region remain high and listings and sanctions by the UNSC are an effective tool to curb such threats and dismantle terror infrastructure in the region,” Bagchi said.

He also said India remained 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 UN Security Council’s 1267 ISIL (Da’esh) and Al Qaeda Sanctions Committee added 68-year-old Makki to its list of designated terrorists late Monday, subjecting him to an assets freeze, travel ban and arms embargo, after years of efforts by India and its allies.

Makki’s listing comes seven months after China, a close ally of Pakistan, had put a hold or blocked on June 16, 2022 a joint proposal by India and the US to designate the head of the political affairs wing of Jamaat-ul-Dawa (JuD) and LeT and the brother-in-law of LeT chief Hafiz Muhammad Saeed.

Decisions to list individuals and entities under the 1267 sanctions committee are made through consensus. Of the 15 Security Council members that make up the Al Qaeda Sanctions Committee, veto-wielding permanent member China was the sole hold-out during the process to list Makki.

Consensus to blacklist Makki under the 1267 Al Qaeda Sanctions Committee could not be achieved after China placed a hold on the joint proposal by India and US in June last year.

China has repeatedly placed blocked bids by India and its allies to list Pakistan-based terrorists. In May 2019, India had won a huge diplomatic win at the UN when the global body designated Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar as a global terrorist.

It came about after a decade when New Delhi had first approached the world body on the issue. China was the sole hold-out in the 15-nation body on the bid to blacklist Azhar, blocking attempts by placing a “technical hold”.

In 2009, India first moved a proposal to designate Azhar. This was followed by similar efforts together with the US, the UK and France in 2016 and 2017 but on all occasions, China’s holds blocked India’s proposal from being adopted by the sanctions committee.

The Sanctions Committee provided a narrative summary of reasons for Makki’s listing in which it said Makki and other Lashkar-e-Taiba/Jamaat-Ud-Dawa operatives “have been involved in raising funds, recruiting and radicalising youth to violence and planning attacks in India, particularly in Jammu and Kashmir.

Former Indian diplomats hailed Makki’s listing as a huge success for the country’s diplomacy. Responding to the development, India’s former Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador T S Tirumurti told PTI that Makki’s listing is a “huge success” for Indian diplomacy.

“First terrorist listing proposal by India in the Security Council to be approved and, further, expressly mentioning terrorist attacks in Jammu and Kashmir emanating from Pakistan. India’s presence in the Council and as Chair of the Counter-terrorism Committee has considerably enhanced the focus on terrorism, including cross-border terrorism,” Tirumurti said.

Notably, the proposal in June 2022 by India to list Makki under the UNSC sanctions committee was made under Tirumurti’s tenure as India’s Ambassador to the UN.

India was a member of the UN Security Council for the 2021-22 term and Tirumurti was Chair of the UN Counter-Terrorism Committee last year before retiring from the Indian foreign service.

India’s former Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador Syed Akbaruddin said in a tweet, “1 more success for @IndianDiplomacy. Abdul Rahman Makki designated by @UN Sanctions Committee…The pursuit of the rest continues.”

It was under Akbaruddin’s leadership at India’s Permanent Mission to the UN here that India won a huge diplomatic win in May 2019 when the global body had designated Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar as a global terrorist, capping a decade-long relentless effort by New Delhi to sanction Azhar, the mastermind of the attack on the air base in Pathankot in January, 2016.

Makki, born in Bahawalpur, Punjab Province of Pakistan, is a US-designated terrorist and is the deputy chief of LeT, head of the political affairs wing of JuD/LeT, a member of JuD’s Markazi (Central) Team and Daawati (proselytization) team.

Makki also served as head of LeT’s foreign relations department and a member of Shura (governing body). He is the brother-in-law of JuD/LeT Chief Hafiz Muhammad Saeed.

Makki was arrested on May 15, 2019 by the Pakistan Government and was under house arrest in Lahore. In 2020, a Pakistani court convicted Makki of terrorism financing and sentenced him to prison,” the sanctions committee said.

The sanctions committee said whilst Makki has held his leadership positions within LeT and JuD, LeT has been responsible for or had involvement in prominent attacks, including the Red Fort Attack in which six LeT terrorists had stormed Red Fort on December 22, 2000 and had opened indiscriminate fire on the security forces guarding the fort.