A diplomatic win at UNSC on Makki

India has scored an important diplomatic victory with the UN Security Council at long last designating Lashkar-e-Taiba deputy leader Abdul Rehman Makki as a global terrorist. His backlisting has come after many years of a campaign by India to get the international community to sanction Makki for his role in several major terror attacks on India, including the November 2008 attack in Mumbai. Makki is designated a terrorist in India as he is in the US, where he also carries a $2 million prize on his head for information leading to his arrest and conviction.

Although India provided the world with strong evidence of the terrorist activities of several Pakistanis, getting them sanctioned as global terrorists by the UNSC has been challenging as China has blocked such efforts. Geopolitical calculations have determined China’s decisions in the UNSC sanctions committee. Given Beijing’s close ties with Pakistan and their shared antagonism towards India, Beijing has preferred to back Pakistan’s aiding and abetting of anti-India terrorism, rather than joining hands with the international community to weaken terrorism. Over the past six months alone, China placed technical holds on Indian proposals to blacklist five Pakistan-based terrorists, including Makki.

In 2019, China backed the blacklisting of Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar after years of blocking Indian proposals. It was believed then that Beijing agreed to blacklist him in return for the US supporting the designation of the Baloch Liberation Army as a terrorist entity. It is possible that a similar deal was done to secure its support on Makki’s blacklisting. It is unfortunate that China's positions on fighting terrorism in the UNSC are unprincipled. Its approach smacks of double standards. While it applies enormous pressure on other countries to support its brutal crackdown on Uighur and Tibetan resistance, it extends little help to other countries fighting terrorism. This is irresponsible and unbecoming of a major power.

With his designation as a global terrorist, Makki’s assets will be frozen. He will be banned from traveling abroad and subjected to arms embargoes. Makki has been the LeT's fundraiser and in charge of the terror outfit’s ‘international relations’.

Theoretically, the UNSC sanctions would impact his capacity to fund the LeT. However, it may not in practice, as much of the capacity of the LeT is dependent not on the efforts of its leaders but the largesse that the ISI extends to anti-India terror outfits. India must therefore persist with its efforts not only to get other terrorists included in the sanctions list but also, importantly, push the international community to force the Pakistan establishment to halt support to these groups. Makki’s sanctioning is a step in the right direction. India must take that forward.