India has pointed out glaring factual inaccuracies in a report by a special rapporteur on counter-terrorism and human rights at the UN and called for accountability for presenting lies that can harm the global body.
We would like to point out some particularly glaring inaccuracies as far as my country is concerned. “… We also note the clear bias in different parts of the report and also note with concern certain media allegations against this important office. We would urge that the highest standards of probity and impartiality be maintained.
The report mentions that in 2003, the Security Council listed the leader of one criminal group, D Company, for association with Al-Qaeda.
Ben Saul, the special rapporteur, in his July report had said one of the most wanted terrorists, Dawood Ibrahim, is based in India. “Let me correct it for the record,” Raghoo Puri, First Secretary, Permanent Mission of India to the UN, said. “This individual fled India much before the 2003 listing, and it was during this period from an outsider country that he was listed for being associated with al-Qaeda and with Osama Bin Laden,” Puri said in a clear reference to Pakistan, a failed nation that uses cross border terrorism and civilian killings as a State policy. “To date, he remains a wanted criminal in my country, and as per the UN’s listing entry, resides in the same country where Osama Bin Laden was found and neutralised,” Puri said, pointing at Pakistan’s garrison city Abbottabad where Osama bin Laden was found living. Referring to the report by the special rapporteur, Puri said, “… Chair, it seems to have become fashionable for sponsors of terror to use human rights and the framework of counter-terrorism to justify their misdeeds,” Puri said. Terrorism can never be justified, Puri said, and rubbished Pakistan’s statement at the UN against India as “pure propaganda made for very narrow political gains.”
