Masood Azhar Designated Global Terrorist In UN
Pakistan-based terrorist Masood Azhar was designated a global terrorist by the UN Security Council in a diplomatic win for India on Wednesday.
The UN decision means a freeze on Masood Azhar’s finances and assets, a travel ban and an arms embargo.
“In our fight against terrorism, it is a big victory,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Masood Azhar’s blacklisting at the UN.
“Big, small, all join together. Masood Azhar designated as a terrorist in @UN Sanctions list Grateful to all for their support,” tweeted Syed Akbaruddin, India’s permanent envoy to the UN.
“This is for us a significant outcome because we have been at it for several years. The first effort that we made in this regard was in 2009. More recently, we have been persistent diligent and in a subterranean manner making all our efforts towards this goal. Today that goal stands achieved,” Akbaruddin said.
However, there was no mention of the Pulwama terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir, which was claimed by the JeM, in Azhar’s listing.
The UN committee listed Azhar on May 1, 2019 as being associated with Al-Qaeda for “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”, “supplying, selling or transferring arms and related material to”, “recruiting for”, “otherwise supporting acts or activities of”, and “other acts or activities indicating association with” the JeM.
A veto-wielding permanent member of the UN Security Council, China was the sole hold-out in the 15-nation body on the bid to blacklist Azhar, blocking attempts by placing a “technical hold”. All decisions of the committee are taken through consensus.
France, which, along with the US and UK, had pressed China to change its stand, said in a statement: “For many years now, French diplomacy has been relentlessly pleading for sanctioning Azhar, head of the terrorist group responsible, notably, for the Pulwama attack last February. “
