Days after being blacklisted by the United Nations Security Council, Pakistan based terrorist leader Abdul Rehman Makki has released a video denying any links with Al-Qaeda or Islamic State.
In the video, the deputy chief of proscribed terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), who is serving multiple sentences in Kot Lakhpat Jail in Pakistan’s Lahore, alleged that his listing was based on “disinformation and hearsay” spread by the Indian government.
Makki was jailed in 2019 along with his brother-in-law, LeT chief Hafiz Saeed and other top brass of the Jamaat ud Daawa (JuD) and LeT.
Makki, in the video, says that his connections with Osama Bin Laden, Ayman Al-Zawahiri or Abdullah Azam are based on “propaganda reports” and he’s never met these people.
However, Makki did not mention the 26/11 Mumbai attacks.
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Makki claimed he considers the views and actions of Al-Qaeda and ISIS opposite of his own beliefs and denounces all kinds terrorism and violence perpetrated by them. However, he said, he believes in the “in the principal position of the Pakistani government regarding Kashmir.”
The terror leader lamented that the UNSC blacklisted him without a fair opportunity to respond to allegations or hearing his point of view.
He denied allegations against him for being a faculty member of Islamic University Islamabad in the 1980s where he was accused of meeting Al-Qaeda leaders or Afghan commanders
He said that he had not studied or taught at Islamic university and had never had any contact with Abdullah Azam, Ayman Al Zawahiri or Bin Laden.
The UNSC on Monday blacklisted Makki under its ISIL (Da’esh) and Al-Qaida Sanctions Committee also known as the UNSC 1267 Committee.
Makki, 68, is the brother-in-law of LeT founder and 26/11 mastermind Hafiz Saeed.
“On 16 January 2023, the Security Council Committee pursuant to resolutions 1267 (1999), 1989 (2011) and 2253 (2015) concerning ISIL (Da’esh), Al-Qaida, and associated individuals, groups, undertakings and entities approved the addition of the entry specified below to its ISIL (Da’esh) and Al-Qaida Sanctions List of individuals and entities subject to the assets freeze, travel ban and arms embargo set out in paragraph 1 of Security Council resolution 2610 (2021) and adopted under Chapter VII of the Charter of the United Nations,” the global body had said in a statement.
The statement by the 1267 committee added that Makki has held leadership positions within LeT and Jamaat–ud–Dawa (JuD).
The committee said the LeT has been responsible for or had involvement in prominent attacks, including the Red Fort Attack in which six terrorists stormed the Red Fort on December 22, 2000, and opened indiscriminate fire on the security forces present.
India had pushed a bid in the UN last year to blacklist Makki but the proposal was blocked by China.
Makki had already been blacklisted by the US and India under their respective anti-terror laws.
The terror leader is believed to be a close confidante of LeT chief Hafiz Saeed and is accused of raising funds and recruiting youth for planning and carrying out terror attacks in India, especially in the Kashmir region.
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