The mastermind of the Pathankot terrorist attack and head of Jaish-e-Mohammed, Masood Azhar, has been designated as a global terrorist in the United Nations Sanctions List, Indian Ambassador to the global organization, Syed Akbaruddin, announced on Wednesday.
Big,small, all join together.
Masood Azhar designated as a terrorist in @UN Sanctions list
Grateful to all for their support. ??#Zerotolerance4Terrorism
— Syed Akbaruddin (@AkbaruddinIndia) May 1, 2019
India has been making relentless efforts towards designating Azhar as a global terrorist but China had thwarted every move thus far. Back in 2009, India had moved a proposal to ban Azhar. In 2016 again, India moved a similar proposal with the P3 (the United States, the United Kingdom, and France) in the UN’s 1267 Sanctions Committee to ban Masood Azhar, at the wake of the 2016 attack on India’s Pathankot by JeM terrorists.
The P3 nations had moved a similar proposal again in 2017. However, on all occasions, the proposal had been blocked by China, a veto-wielding member of the UNSC. However, it appears China has finally withdrawn its opposition.
It is another feather in Narendra Modi’s cap as the aggressive foreign policy he has pursued against terror during his first term as Prime Minister has yielded the fruitful result. France had been extremely supportive of India and the US under Donald Trump has been conducive to Indian interests as well as he tries to corner China with India’s help. In a recent proposal, France, UK and USA had asked the UN Security Council to declare Azhar as a global terrorist.
Rumours were doing the rounds that positive news could be soon expected regarding Masood Azhar. It appears the news has come sooner rather than later.
