Who is Abdul Rehman Makki, one of India's most-wanted terrorists?

In a major diplomatic victory for India, Abdul Rehman Makki, deputy chief of Pakistan-based terror group, Lashkar-e-Taiba, was designated a global terrorist by the United Nations, after China lifted its hold on a joint India-US proposal to blacklist him. This paved the way for the Security Council’s Al Qaeda sanctions committee, set up to implement sanctions against terrorists,, to list him through consensus.

India and the United States had listed Makki as a terrorist under national laws and had jointly proposed to blacklist him under the UN Security Council’s ISIL and Al Qaeda Sanctions Committee on June 1, 2022. But, China blocked the process by placing a technical hold on the India-U.S. proposal at that time. India had termed China’s “technical hold” as “extremely unfortunate” when it had happened.

Now, as China has lifted the hold, and the UN anti-terror committee has blacklisted the 68-year-old Makki, he will be added to a list of designated terrorists on Monday (January 16), subjecting him to an assets freeze, travel ban and arms embargo. This move comes after years of efforts by India and its allies.

So, who is Abdul Rehman Makki?

One of India’s most-wanted terrorists  

Born on December 10, 1954, in Pakistan, Abdul Rehman Makki, is one of India’s most-wanted terrorists. He has masterminded seven attacks in India, including the major attack on Red Fort in 2000. Makki has also engineered other major terror attacks in India, such as the Rampur camp attack in 2008, Baramulla, Srinagar and Bandipora attacks in 2018. He was also allegedly responsible for the assassination of well-known Kashmiri editor Shujat Bhukari in June 2018.

The ministry of home affairs has told the media that Makki was also involved in planning an IED blast inside the Odeon Theatre in Hyderabad on May 7, 2006. Meanwhile, for adding Makki to the sanctions list, the UN committee too has cited seven terror attacks, including the 2000 Red Fort attack, the 2008 Rampur attack, and the 2008 Mumbai attacks. The 2018 attack in Gurez, Bandipora, that killed four Indian Army soldiers, was also linked to him by the Committee.

Also read: LeT’s Makki raising funds, planning attacks in India: UNSC panel

He was also part of the 2008 “most audacious attack” by LeT in India. The UN Sanctions Committee said 10 LeT terrorists from Pakistan entered via the Arabian Sea in Mumbai with pre-decided targets, out of which Amir Ajmal Kasab was caught alive; the rest were killed.

Makki was declared a terrorist by India in 2020 under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967. Since then, China has been obstructing the joint proposal of the US and India to declare him a global terrorist.

Makki, the fundraiser

A Pakistani radical Islamist activist, Makki was born in Bahawalpur, Punjab Province of Pakistan. A US-designated terrorist, he is deputy chief of Lashkar-e-Taiba, also known as Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) and head of the political affairs wing of the JuD/LeT. The LeT is a terror organisation operating against India. He has also served in the LeT’s foreign relations department and the Shura (governing body) and above all, is the cousin and brother-in-law of Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, the founder of Lashkar-e-Taiba.

Makki is known to be the LeT’s main fundraiser and a key planner. The UN Sanctions Committee also collaborated this by saying that Makki and other LET/JUD operatives have been involved in raising funds, recruiting and radicalising youth to violence and planning attacks in India, particularly in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K). The Committee said this while explaining the reasons that prompted it to add Makki to the blacklist.

“He is also a member of JuD’s Markazi (Central) team and Daawati (proselytization) team,” said the Committee. Also, he is the brother-in-law of Hafiz Saeed, who is “wanted by the Indian government”.

Makki was close to Hafiz Saeed, until the terrorist was jailed in 2019 for 35 years. He continues however to be his frontman. In the past, Makki was the de facto leader of the LeT-JuD, when Saeed, listed by the UN Security Council as a terrorist after the 2008 Mumbai attacks, was under house arrest off and on.

Also read: Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish operate with impunity: Jaishankar at UNSC

According to news reports, it was when Makki held the leadership positions within LeT and JUD, the LeT was 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.

Makki too is referred to as Hafiz, a title given to a person who has memorised the Quran. He is also referred to as Naib Emir of JuD. Makki, a fiery speaker has attended most of the February Kashmir Solidarity Day rallies in Islamabad (Kashmir solidarity day is officially observed in Pakistan on February 5) and at one such rally in 2010, two years after the Mumbai attacks, Makki had threatened “rivers of blood” will flow in India. Until, India hands over Kashmir to Pakistan and even threatened to seize it by force.

Makki had a bounty placed on him

On November 4, 2010, the U.S. department of treasury termed Makki a Specially Designated Global Terrorist. A bounty of $2 million was also offered for information about him. That did not send him into hiding, and he was often seen in courtrooms in Pakistan for Saeed’s hearings.

He had previously escaped being blacklisted when Saeed and the LeT front organisation JuD were listed by the Security Council. But months later, after he kept threatening violence in India, he found a place in the US treasury department’s list of designated and sanctioned terrorists in November 2010.

“(The US) Treasury also acted against Hafiz Abdul Rahman Makki, head of LET’s political affairs department, for acting for or on behalf of LET,” the US treasury department said at the time, adding that he helped raise funds for LeT, including, “approximately $248,000 to an LET training camp and approximately $165,000 to an LET-affiliated madrassa.”

On May 15, 2019, Pakistan government arrested Makki for carrying out terror incidents and he was under house arrest in Lahore. And later, in 2020, a Pakistan court held Makki guilty of terror funding and sentenced him to prison. But later he was seen roaming around freely.

Also read: At BRICS, PM Modi takes a dig at China on ‘double standards’ on Makki

Former Indian diplomats hail Makki’s listing as a terrorist

Former Indian diplomats hailed Makki’s listing as a huge success for the country’s diplomacy.

Responding to the development, India’s former Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador T S Tirumurti told PTI that Makki’s listing is a huge success for Indian diplomacy.

“First terrorist listing proposal by India in the Security Council to be approved and, further, expressly mentioning terrorist attacks in Jammu and Kashmir emanating from Pakistan. India’s presence in the Council and as Chair of the Counter-terrorism Committee has considerably enhanced the focus on terrorism, including cross-border terrorism,” Tirumurti said.

Notably, the proposal in June 2022 by India to list Makki under the UNSC sanctions committee was made under Tirumurti’s tenure as India’s Ambassador to the UN.
India was a member of the UN Security Council for the 2021-22 term and Tirumurti was Chair of the UN Counter-Terrorism Committee last year, before retiring from the Indian foreign service.

India’s former Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador Syed Akbaruddin said in a tweet,” 1 more success for @IndianDiplomacy. Abdul Rahman Makki designated by @UN Sanctions Committee. The pursuit of the rest continues”.

It was under Akbaruddin’s leadership at India’s Permanent Mission to the UN that India won a huge diplomatic win in May 2019, when the global body had designated Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar as a global terrorist, capping a decade-long relentless effort by New Delhi to sanction Azhar, the mastermind of the attack on the air base in Pathankot in January, 2016.