‘Paints a very different picture’: New Delhi rejects UN rapporteur's description of Dawood’s ‘D-Company’ as India-based

India has strongly rejected a United Nations special rapporteur's description of fugitive gangster Dawood Ibrahim's D-Company as an “India-based” criminal group, citing “glaring inaccuracies” in a counter-terrorism report.

India said such factual errors and the lack of accountability for UN experts could undermine the credibility of the world body. It maintained that Ibrahim had fled India long before his 2003 listing by the UN Security Council for his association with Al-Qaeda and Osama bin Laden.

Raghoo Puri, First Secretary at India's Permanent Mission to the UN, raised the objections on Wednesday during a meeting of 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.

“My delegation has been pointing out in other forums as well our serious concern at the unacceptable situation of the SR (Special Rapporteur) releasing reports with factual inaccuracies, while not being held accountable for them,” Puri said.

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He said the publication of reports containing factual errors without adequate accountability presented member states with a fait accompli and left them with little scope to respond before the findings entered public discourse. He described this as an unfortunate situation for an organisation already facing challenges to its legitimacy.

According to news agency ANI, Puri said, “It is in this context that we would like to point out some particularly glaring inaccuracies as far as my country is concerned.”

Puri objected to Saul's report stating that the UN Security Council had in 2003 listed the leader of one criminal group, “the India-based D-Company”, for association with Al-Qaeda.

“Read in isolation, this line paints a very different picture from the actual reality,” Puri said, strongly rejecting the description of the criminal organisation as India-based.

He said D-Company and its listed leader, Dawood Ibrahim, had been wanted in India in connection with terror attacks since 1993. He added that this was documented in the narrative summary explaining the reasons for Ibrahim's listing under the UN Security Council's 1267 Al-Qaeda sanctions regime.

“This is clearly written in the narrative summary of reasons of listing under the 1267 sanctions regime,” Puri said.

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“Not mentioning this fact is regrettable, and such incompetence on part of special mandate holders does this organisation tremendous harm,” he added.

Clarifying the timeline, 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.”

Puri said Ibrahim remained a wanted criminal in India and that, according to the UN listing, he lived in the same country where Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden was found and killed, in a clear reference to Pakistan. Bin Laden was killed by US Navy SEALs during a raid in the Pakistani town of Abbottabad in 2011.

India reiterated that describing D-Company as India-based omitted key facts in the UN listing, including that Ibrahim had fled the country before he was listed in 2003 and remained wanted in India over terror attacks dating back to 1993.