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Abdul Rehman Makki, the Mumbai 26/11 attack plotter, dies: Read how the LeT terrorist who wanted “rivers of blood” to flow in India died

Makki was the brains behind several terror attacks in India in addition to the carnage that occurred during 26/11. He was involved in the 2000 Red Fort attack where six LeT terrorists broke into Red Fort and began firing at the security personnel stationed there on 22nd December 2000. He also engineered 2008 attack against CRPF personnel in Rampur.

Hafiz Abdul Rahman Makki (70), the deputy chief of the outlawed Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) and the brother-in-law of the mastermind of the 2008 Mumbai attacks, Hafiz Muhammad Saeed passed away from a heart attack in Lahore on 27th December. According to the JuD, he had been at a private hospital in Lahore for a few days, receiving treatment for high diabetes. The Pakistan Mutahida Muslim League (PMML) declared that Makki supported Pakistani ideology, in a statement.

He participated in fundraising efforts for the operations of Lashkar-e-Taiba/Tayyiba (LeT), a US-designated Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO), and held several leadership roles within the terror outfit. Makki was a major conspirator in the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks of 26/11, which left 175 people dead including the nine terrorists and over 300 injured. He was subjected to an arms embargo, a travel ban and an asset freeze and the United Nations named him a global terrorist in 2023. He was also wanted by the Indian government. 

Makki was Hafiz Saeed’s virtual shadow before his 36-year prison sentence in 2019. He then continued to front for Saeed, as he had done for over ten years with the LeT/Jamat-ud-Dawa commander who was in and out of house arrest and classified by the United Nations Security Council as a terrorist following the 2008 Mumbai attacks. Makki would attend the court proceedings of Saeed’s petitions challenging his arrest under the Maintenance of Public Order at the time.

Makki wanted “rivers of blood” in India

Makki frequently attended the February Kashmir Solidarity Day demonstrations in Islamabad. He vowed “rivers of blood” in India for not ceding Kashmir to Pakistan and threatened to annex it by force during one such rally in February 2010, two years after the Mumbai attacks and made a similar speech later that year.

After Saeed and the LeT front group JuD were listed in 2008 under UNSC Resolution 1267, Makki managed to avoid being designated. Sanctions against people and organizations that enable or fund the actions of ISIL (Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant), Al-Qaida, associated individuals, groups, undertakings and entities are laid out in Resolution 1267. He was included in the United States Treasury Department’s list of designated and sanctioned terrorists in November 2010 after making threats of violence in India for several months.

“Treasury also acted against Hafiz Abdul Rahman Makki, head of LeT’s political affairs department, for acting for or on behalf of LeT,” the department declared at the time. It added that Makki played a key role in raising money for LeT, including “approximately $165,000 to a LeT-affiliated madrassa and approximately $248,000 to a LeT training camp.”

A $2 million reward was also offered for information about him. On hearing days, he marched into courtrooms in Lahore and Islamabad alongside Saeed’s attorney, JuD cadres, and other supporters to observe the proceedings. A $10 million US bounty for information regarding Saeed was also challenged by him and Saeed in a joint appeal to the Lahore High Court in 2014. The two terrorists claimed that the US bounties were a pressure technique “at the behest of India,” as Saeed was getting ready to become a full-time politician at the time.

Makki was one of six people acquitted by the Lahore High Court in November 2021 of charges of sponsoring terrorism through the charity Al Anfal, which is a front for the LeT. A lower court in Pakistan condemned Makki to six months in prison after the Punjab Police’s Counter Terrorism Department filed more than 40 complaints against Makki and Saeed, among other JuD members. Saeed was found guilty on many counts and sentenced to 36 years in prison, as an eyewash due to the mounting global pressure. He is held at the Kot Lakhpat jail in Lahore.

Designated as a global terrorist in 2023

The Financial Action Task Force (FATF), a watchdog group established to prevent money laundering and terrorist financing, put pressure on Pakistan to start cracking down on the LeT/JuD in 2017. Saeed was put under house arrest, as he had been on several occasions previously and was later freed later that year. Pakistan prohibited JuD the next year by its own 1997 Anti-Terror Act, which was later modified as the Anti-Terrorism Ordinance, 2018. FATF, however, asked Pakistan to do more after grey-listing it that year.

Pakistan detained Saeed again in July 2019, fearing that the country would be blacklisted, or added to a list of nations the FATF deems to be uncooperative in the battle against money laundering and terrorism financing. Police stations in Lahore, Gujranwala, Multan, Faisalabad, and Sargodha had reportedly filed 23 FIRs (First Information Reports) against him and other JuD terrorists, including Abdul Rehman Makki, before Saeed’s arrest.

On 15th May 2019, Makki was apprehended for hate speech, however, escaped conviction. Notably, India prioritized naming terrorists based in Pakistan during its 2021–2022 term at the United Nations. Sajid Mir (LeT), Shahid Mahmood (LeT), Talha Saeed (LeT), Abdul Rehman Makki (LeT), and Abdul Rauf Asghar (Jaish-e-Mohammed, JeM) were the five names that India submitted for designation under 1267 in 2018. One member state initially put each of these five names on technical hold, but the other 14 council members approved their listing.

On 1st June 2022, India filed Makki’s case, with the US joining as a co-designating state. A joint US-Indian proposal to add him to the UN Security Council’s 1267 Al-Qaida Sanctions Committee was abruptly shelved by China on 16th June 2022 and then extended again in mid-December after the six-month timeframe. The India-US attempts to designate him transpired when FATF was deliberating about taking Pakistan off of its grey list which eventually took place in October 2022. However, Makki was officially named a global terrorist, due to relentless efforts by India, but, he was not arrested in Pakistan.

He was listed on 16th January 2023, under paragraphs 2 and 4 of United Nations resolution 2368 (2017) for association with ISIL or Al-Qaida. His actions included “participating in the financing, planning, facilitating, preparing, or perpetrating of acts or activities by, in conjunction with, under the name of, on behalf of, or in support of,” “recruiting for,” or “otherwise supporting acts or activities of” and “either owned or controlled, directly or indirectly, by, or otherwise supporting” Lashkar-e-Tayyiba (LeT).

He was a member of LeT’s Shura (ruling body) and chief of the organization’s foreign relations division, according to the UN. Additionally, he was a member of the Central (Markazi) and Daawati (proselytization) teams of Jamat-ud-Dawa (JuD).

Terrorist attacks in India under Makki’s LeT leadership

Makki was the brains behind several terror attacks in India in addition to the carnage that occurred during 26/11. He was involved in the 2000 Red Fort attack where six LeT terrorists broke into Red Fort and began firing at the security personnel stationed there on 22nd December 2000. They came under the premise of attending a light-and-sound show narrating the history of the ancient monument. Two troops and a civilian guard were killed as the terrorists opened fire on the seventh battalion of the Rajputana Rifles while concealed in the darkness and fog.

On 1st January 2008, five LeT terrorists attacked a Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) camp in Rampur, killing seven officers and a rickshaw puller. Three CRPF constables were among the eight individuals hurt in the assault that happened in the sentry station beside a railroad track in the early hours of the fateful day. The four LeT terrorists who were in CRPF uniform and armed with AK-47 rifles and grenades were able to get away.

The horrific 26/11 Mumbai attack claimed 166 lives as ten Pakistani terrorists from LeT targeted several areas including Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus, the Oberoi Trident, the Taj Mahal Palace and Tower Hotel, among others in the financial capital of India. Amir Ajmal Kasab was captured alive, which unveiled the entire conspiracy, while the rest were neutralized. Terrorists from the LeT entered Mumbai through the Arabian Sea with predetermined targets and wreaked havoc in the city. They executed 12 shooting and bombing strikes throughout Mumbai over four days. Last month marked 16 years since the dreaded instance.

On 12th February 2018, LeT Fidayeen (suicide squad) stormed into the CRPF (23 Battalion) camp at the Karan Nagar area of Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir in which one CRPF trooper was killed, while one policeman was injured. Fortunately, the attack was foiled by the paramilitary personnel. The camp was attacked in the early hours by two terrorists with AK-47s. Sentry Raghunath Ghait opened fire after spotting them. “The militants fled the spot after the sentry’s fire prevented them from entering the camp,” informed CRPF.

On 30th April 2018, three civilians were killed by terrorists in Khanpora, Baramulla of Jammu and Kashmir. According to a police official, the strike was carried out by terrorists from Lashkar-e-Taiba. According to sources, the attack was carried out by one foreigner and two local terrorists.

On 14th June 2018, journalist Shujaat Bukhari and his two Personal Security Officers (PSOs) were killed in Srinagar, in the valley. He was the founding editor of Rising Kashmir, a Srinagar-based newspaper. He was shot dead by LeT terrorists outside his office in the Press Enclave area. He had survived three assassination attempts on previous occasions. LeT commander Naveed Jatt who was behind the occurrence was eliminated in an encounter later in the same year.

On 7th August 2018 four Army soldiers including a major were killed when the army thwarted a significant attempt by heavily armed LeT terrorists to infiltrate along the Line of Control (LoC) in the Gurez Sector of the Bandipora District in Jammu and Kashmir. The Pakistan Army did ceasefire violations to divert the attention of the troops from the LoC and provide cover fire to the assailants.

“The Security Council Committee under 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 United Nations Security Council (UNSC) pronounced while declaring him a global terrorist.

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