The United Nations has designated Masood Azhar as a terrorist today. The significance of this move is apparent since after 10 years of China opposing this move by India, under the Modi government, China finally conceded and did not use its veto power to block India’s attempt to list Masood Azhar, the Pakistani Islamic terrorist to be listed as a global terrorist.
While India rejoiced the move, several vested interested proceeded to spread lies and canards about this historic diplomatic win for India, in their unbridled hatred for PM Modi.
Omar Abdullah, the former Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir and the current head of National Conference tweeted, in the quintessential Kejriwal ‘is it true’ style, that listing of Masood Azhar as a global terrorist was only possible because all references to Pulwama and terrorism in Kashmir were dropped by India.
Is this true that the listing of #MasoodAzhar as a global terrorist was only possible because all references to Pulwama & terrorism in Kashmir were dropped? https://t.co/lOdkGfENDr
— Omar Abdullah (@OmarAbdullah) May 1, 2019
Such an assertion by Omar Abdullah aims to undermine India’s diplomatic win that has resulted in a huge embarrassment for Pakistan and China. Instead, Omar attempted to ensure even this diplomatic win for India is somehow belittled by saying that Pakistan, through China, got its way in getting India to drop all references of Pulwama and terrorism in Kashmir.
But are Omar Abdullah’s assertions true? Did India really drop the reference of Pulwama and terrorism in Kashmir to ensure the listing of Maulana Masood Azhar as a global terrorist?
OpIndia has acquired a portion of the diplomatic dossier that was submitted by India to the United Nations and the assertions made by Omar Abdullah are patently false.
Mention of terrorism in Kashmir in the diplomatic dossier submitted by India
The diplomatic dossier submitted by India mentions terrorism in Kashmir and Jihad in Kashmir several times, contrary to what Omar Abdullah is claiming.
The first mention is in the background of Masood Azhar itself where the dossier talks about Azhar collecting funds to wage Jihad in Kashmir.
The dossier goes on to say that he started churning out Jihadi propaganda in support of the Al Qaeda, the Afghan Taliban and terrorist groups fighting in Jammu and Kashmir.
In fact, while talking about the hanging of Afzal Guru, the dossier says that Azhar issued threats to India in rallies organised in Pakistan and Pakistan Occupied Kashmir.
The dossier says that Azhar has intensified his terrorist operations against the Indian government, security forces and civilians, predominantly in Jammu and Kashmir. In the same section, the dossier also talks about how he has been collecting funds for Jihad in Kashmir and other regions like Afghanistan.
The dossier then talks about the Jaish-e-Mohammad’s fund collection campaigns called “Jehad Fund” that is used for terrorists and to fund their expenses including clothing, arms etc. It then refers to ‘Infaq Fi Sabil Allah Muhim” that is a campaign to collect funds for Jihad in Kashmir.
In the next paragraph itself, the dossier mentions how ‘high-value operatives’, particularly trained terrorists belonging to their family are infiltrated into Jammu and Kashmir to conduct massive terror attacks.
Mention of the dastardly Pulwama terror attack
Omar Abdullah has also asserted that India agreed to drop all mention of the dastardly Pulwama terror attack of 14th February 2019 after which, India conducted the Balakot airstrikes annihilating several terror hideouts and camps of Jaish-e-Mohammad deep inside Pakistan territory.
This claim is also patently false.
In the dossier, India categorically mentions the Pulwama terror attack by JeM on February 14th 2019.
In fact, the dossier also mentions that Azhar has been under house arrest post the Balakot airstrikes conducted by India.
As is evident from the excerpts of the dossier, India has mentioned terror mounted by JeM in Kashmir abundantly and also the dastardly Pulwama terror attack.
Omar Abdullah then went on to assert that India ‘sold its men’ for a symbolic win since the United Nations ‘listing’ did not have a mention of Kashmir or Balakot.
No mention of terror in Kashmir & no mention of Pulwama. It’s amazing how quickly the sacrifices of the CRPF men were sold down the river to get a symbolic win. https://t.co/Y9bStsF6QC
— Omar Abdullah (@OmarAbdullah) May 1, 2019
However, the listing by the UN is always a brief profile of the terrorist and his terror activity across the world and not limited to any one country. Which is why the UN agrees to designate the terrorist as a global terrorist. It is erroneous for Omar or anyone else to claim that India ‘agreed’ to drop the mention of Kashmir or Pulwama, especially since in the dossier, India has categorically mentioned both Kashmir and Pulwama.
It may be noted that India is not a member of the UNSC, and the proposal to list Masood Azhar was moved by France, USA and the UK. India’s role was limited to submitting dossiers relating to the terrorist, it had no role in the decision to list him or the listing note prepared by the committee.
More importantly, UNSC has mentioned that Masood Azhar is the founder of Jaish-I-Mohammad, which was already designated as a terror organisation by the UN in 2001. The listing for Jaish mentions that although the organisation is based in Pakistan, its members conduct terrorist activities primarily in Kashmir. The note on Jaish mentions several terror activities done by them in India prior to the listing in 2001.
After 10 long years, India has finally managed to get Masood Azhar, a dreaded global terrorist in the UN list of terrorists. It is indeed unfortunate that vested elements still continue to peddle their agenda at the cost of national security.
