New Delhi: India has strongly condemned a United Nations Special Rapporteur’s report that described Dawood Ibrahim’s ‘D-Company’ as an “India-based” criminal syndicate. Delivering a sharp rebuke at the United Nations General Assembly, India asserted that the wanted terrorist is actively sheltered in Pakistan, the very same country where al-Qaeda founder Osama bin Laden was discovered and killed.
The controversy erupted after UN Special Rapporteur Ben Saul released a counter-terrorism report characterising the D-Company as an India-based gang with terrorist connections. Taking strong exception to the phrasing, Indian diplomat Raghu Puri stated that such an isolated reading paints a highly distorted picture of reality.
Addressing the assembly, Puri clarified that Dawood Ibrahim, the designated kingpin of the D-Company, fled India long before he was listed by the UN Security Council in 2003 for his ties to al-Qaeda. He emphasised that Dawood remains one of India’s most wanted criminals for his role in orchestrating a series of deadly terror attacks since 1993.
“I must set the record straight: this individual fled India long before he was listed in 2003. He was listed for his associations with al-Qaeda and Osama bin Laden while residing outside the country,” Puri stated. He noted that according to the UN’s own sanctions list, the designated global terrorist continues to reside in the neighbouring nation where bin Laden was ultimately neutralised.
The Indian representative also criticised the UN mandate holders for publishing factually incorrect reports without facing any accountability. Expressing deep concern, Puri pointed out that such inaccuracies create irreversible narratives for member states. He cautioned that the inefficiency and factual errors propagated by special mandate holders inflict severe damage on the United Nations, an organisation already grappling with challenges to its legitimacy and fairness.
India’s intervention at the global forum serves as a firm reminder to the international community regarding Pakistan’s continued role in providing safe havens to globally designated terrorists while calling for higher standards of impartiality in UN reports.