India rejects UN report's 'India-based' label for Dawood's D-Company

India has strongly rejected a UN special rapporteur’s description of the Dawood Ibrahim-led D-Company as an ‘India-based’ criminal group, saying the report contains ‘glaring inaccuracies’ and warning that such errors cause serious harm to the world body’s credibility. The rebuttal was delivered by First Secretary Raghoo Puri of India’s Permanent Mission to the UN in the Third Committee of the UN General Assembly. He was responding to a report by Ben Saul, the Special Rapporteur on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms while Countering Terrorism.

Mr Puri said India had been raising, in other forums as well, its ‘serious concern at the unacceptable situation’ of the special rapporteur releasing reports with factual inaccuracies while not being held accountable for them. ‘This presents member states with a fait accompli, an unfortunate situation for an organisation already facing challenges to its legitimacy,’ he said. He added: ‘It is in this context that we would like to point out some particularly glaring inaccuracies as far as my country is concerned.’

At issue was a line in Mr Saul’s report stating that in 2003 the Security Council listed the leader of one criminal group, ‘the India-based D-Company’, for association with Al-Qaeda. Mr Puri said: ‘Read in isolation, this line paints a very different picture from the actual reality.’ He strongly rejected the description of the D-Company as India-based, noting that the criminal organisation and its listed leader, Dawood Ibrahim, have been wanted in India in connection with the 1993 terror attacks. ‘This is clearly written in the narrative summary of reasons of listing under the 1267 sanctions regime,’ he said, referring to the UN Security Council’s Al-Qaeda sanctions regime.

‘Not mentioning this fact is regrettable, and such incompetence on the part of special mandate holders does this organisation tremendous harm,’ Mr Puri said. ‘Let me correct it for the record. This individual fled India much before the 2003 listing, and it was during this period from outside our country that he was listed for being associated with Al Qaeda and with Osama bin Laden.’

Mr Puri said Dawood Ibrahim remains a wanted criminal in India and that, according to the UN listing, he resides in the same country where Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden was found and killed. Bin Laden was killed by US Navy SEALs in a raid in the Pakistani town of Abbottabad in 2011. The Indian diplomat’s remarks referred to the listing’s description of Ibrahim’s location without naming Pakistan directly; the reference to Abbottabad made the context clear.

The 1267 sanctions regime, established in 1999, imposes asset freezes, travel bans and arms embargoes on individuals and entities associated with Al-Qaeda and the Taliban. Listings under the regime are accompanied by a narrative summary of reasons, which India said clearly records that Ibrahim is wanted in India over the 1993 attacks and had fled the country before the 2003 listing.

India’s intervention at the Third Committee focused on the accuracy of UN reporting and the accountability of special mandate holders. Mr Puri said the wording of the report, read without the full listing history, could create a misleading impression about the group’s origins and India’s record in pursuing the case. The Third Committee is the UN General Assembly body that deals with human rights and social issues.