'93 Mumbai blasts gang still in Pak enjoying VIP hospitality: India

New York: The criminal group who executed the 1993 Mumbai bomb blast is still in Pakistan enjoying 5-star treatment and protection from the state, the Indian diplomat told the UN. India's Permanent Representative to the United Nations TS Tirumurti was referring to Dawood Ibrahim, who is presumed to be hiding in Pakistan, and his D-Company, PTI reported.

Addressing the International Counter Terrorism Conference 2022, Tirumurti added on Tuesday that terrorism, along with transnational organised crime, required to be addressed seriously, PTI reported. Tirumurti chairs the International Counter Terrorism Conference 2022.

Further, Tirumurti appreciated the UN sanctions regimes like the 1267 Al-Qaida Sanctions Committee and stated their importance in curbing terror financing, terrorist transits and terrorists acquiring arms. But he registered his concerns on implementing the sanctions as it appeared challenging.

He suggested that the sanction regime should operate, ensuring due process in their working procedures and decision making. Their decision making must be objective, fast, credible, transparent and evidence-based and without political or religious considerations. He cited a recent report by Monitoring Team on the asset freeze exemptions procedures based on resolution 2560(2020), which states the lacunae of freeze measures by member states, for which deficiencies in the existing guidelines are also a reason.

Pakistan openly admitted Dawood's presence in their territory only in August 2020. The Imran Khan government had announced a ban on 88 terror organisations and their heads in the country that year, and Dawood was one.