Guwahati: India at the United Nations on Tuesday claimed that the crime gang behind the 1993 Mumbai bomb blast was offered official protection and received five-star hospitality, presumably alluding to underworld don Dawood Ibrahim, who is thought to be in Pakistan.
India’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Ambassador TS Tirumurti, stressed that the ties between terrorism and transnational organised crime must be properly recognised and actively addressed at the Global Counter-Terrorism Council’s International Counter-Terrorism Conference 2022.
“We’ve seen the crime gang behind the 1993 Mumbai bombings not only get governmental protection but also 5-star treatment,” he claimed.
Tirumurti’s comments appeared to be a reference to D-company CEO Dawood Ibrahim, who is thought to be hiding in Pakistan.
After India imposed sanctions on 88 outlawed terror groups and their leaders, including Ibrahim, Pakistan verified his presence on its soil for the first time in August 2020.
According to Tirumurti, UN sanctions regimes, such as the 1267 Al-Qaida Sanctions Committee, are critical to international efforts to limit terrorist finance, travel, and access to armaments by terrorist groups.
The Indian Ambassador, on the other hand, voiced worry that putting these safeguards in place would be difficult.
“It is vital that any sanctions regimes created by the Council follow due process in their decision-making and operational procedures. The decision-making process and listing/delisting measures should be objective, quick, credible, evidence-based, and transparent, rather than dependent on political or religious factors, he stated.