1st Declared Global Terrorist, Now UN Allows Basic Expense Of Rs 1.5 Lakh To 26/11 Mastermind
The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) sanctions committeehas given approval for monthly ¡°basic expenses¡± of Rs 1.5 lakh to the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks conspirator and LeT commander Zaki-ur Rehman Lakhvi, a move that could leave India fuming.??
Notably, Lakhvi who is the operations commander and top leader of terror outfit Lakshar-e-Taiba was listed as a global terrorist in 2008. Following which his assets and bank accounts were frozen.??
The UN-designated terrorist was behind the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks in 2008 when 10 heavily-armed Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorists from Pakistan created mayhem in the city, killing 166 people and injuring over 300 others.?
Pak approached?UNSC for?Lakhvi's expenses
Sources say the Pakistani government put in a request to consider a monthly payment from his account to cover his expenses relating to food (Rs 50,000), medicines (Rs 45,000), public utility charges (Rs 20,000), lawyer¡¯s fee (Rs 20,000) and transportation (Rs 15,000). The request has now been approved by UNSC 1267 Al Qaeda Sanctions Committee.
The anti-terror committee of the UN Security Council granted permission for basic expenses to Lakhvi after?the Imran Khan?government reportedly approached the panel.
The committee also gave its nod to Pakistan¡¯s request for a monthly payment to Mahmood Sultan Bashiruddin. He is a Pakistani nuclear engineer, and founder and?director of the UN-listed entity Ummah Tameer-e-Nau. He was conferred the Sitara-e-Imtiaz (third highest civilian honour in Pakistan) by the previous Nawaz Sharif government.
Lakhvi's time in jail
While he is a US and UN-sanctioned entity, Bashiruddin now lives freely in Pakistan while Lakhvi is out on bail.?The LeT operations commander was released from?a Pakistani jail in April 2015 after spending nearly six years in detention.?Many believe that Lakhvi's time in Pakistani jail was an eyewash since according to reports he had access to all facilities. He held his meetings with people from outside and had even fathered a child while at the Adiala jail in Rawalpindi.
How UNSC approved Pak's request?
According to the rules of UNSC, such requests are allowed unless all the 15 members object to it. According to procedure, a state puts in a request with the 1267 UNSC Committee, and then if all 15 members do not object within three days, approval is granted. Since all states have to object, one or two objections would not have made a difference, explained an officer.
Hafiz Saeed was allowed expenses too
Further, the officer said that in such cases of ¡°basic expenses¡±, UNSC committee members do not object to unless the amount is ¡°disproportionately¡± high.
This is not the first time that such a request has been cleared by the UNSC for designated individuals. Hafiz Saeed was also allowed the ¡°basic expenses¡± under the same provision in August 2016.
One might argue that Rs 1.5 lakhs in ($6,500 approx.) is a substantial amount for a country where the average income falls much lower than this.
According to UN Security Council resolutions and committee guidelines, there are provisions for exemptions from the assets freeze. It says member states ¡ª in this case, Pakistan ¡ª which intend to authorize, where appropriate, access to frozen funds or other financial assets or economic resources can request for exemption. The committee then takes a decision.
