New Delhi/United Nations: India has sharply rebuked remarks in a UN special human rights report that it termed inappropriate, rejecting in the strongest terms the description of underworld don Dawood Ibrahim’s “D-Company” as a “criminal gang operating out of India.” New Delhi warned that such irresponsible positions, which distort facts, damage the credibility of the United Nations itself.
Raghu Puri, First Secretary at India’s Permanent Mission, raised the issue at a meeting of the Third Committee of the UN General Assembly. He pointed to serious factual errors in the report submitted by Ben Saul, the Special Rapporteur on human rights and counter-terrorism, and said it was unacceptable for special rapporteurs to issue such unsubstantiated reports without accountability.
Puri noted that the UN Security Council had imposed sanctions on Dawood Ibrahim in 2003 over his links to Al-Qaeda, calling any attempt to attribute him to India “completely absurd.” He said Dawood fled India after the 1993 Mumbai blasts and has remained one of India’s most wanted fugitives ever since. Although these details are clearly documented in the records of the UN 1267 Sanctions Committee, he said, it was notable that the report bypassed them. India added that the world knows Dawood sheltered in Pakistan, the same country where Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden hid before he was killed.
Oil prices offer economic relief
Separately, India’s crude oil import costs have been easing gradually, driven by supply conditions in international markets and global political developments. The decline is a positive for the Indian economy. As India asserts its presence on international diplomatic platforms, falling oil prices are also helping ease domestic inflationary pressures.