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Masood Azhar unwell? Sources say govt takes Pak claim with ‘pinch of salt’
Masood Azhar heads Jaish-e-Mohammad, the oufit responsible for the February 14 attack on a CRPF convoy on Jammu-Srinagar highway that left 40 jawans dead.
India is reaching out to 15 members of the United Nations Security Council in the fresh bid to have Jaish leader Masood Azhar proscribed, notwithstanding Pakistan minister’s claim that the terror outfit head was ‘unwell’, sources said.
“India takes such reports (of Masood Azhar being unwell) with a pinch of salt, earlier we have seen similar reports on Mullah Omar and Osama Bin Laden as well. Our effort is to bring Masood Azhar to book,” the source said
Masood Azhar heads Jaish-e-Mohammad, the oufit responsible for the February 14 attack on a CRPF convoy on Jammu-Srinagar highway that left 40 jawans dead.
READ: All options available with govt if another terror attack happens, say sources
The incident started a fresh round of confrontation between India and Pakistan, with Indian Air Force carrying out early morning airstrikes on Jaish’s camp in Balakot on February 26.
The Pakistan attempt to retaliate next day was rebuffed by Indian jets as a result of which pilot Abhinandan Varthaman’s jet, chasing a Pakistan fighter, crashed in Pakistan and he was arrested and later released.
The US, the UK and France last week moved a fresh proposal in the UN Security Council to designate Azhar as a global terrorist, a listing that will subject him to global travel ban, asset freeze and arms embargo.
Recent reports in Pakistan media had suggested that Pakistan may not oppose the ban move this time. All earlier efforts to put curbs on Azhar has been blocked by Pakistan and China
The Security Council Sanctions Committee will consider within 10 days on the fresh proposal moved by the three permanent veto-wielding members of the 15-nation Security Council.
The proposal is the fourth such bid at the UN in the last 10 years to list Azhar as a global terrorist.
In 2009, India moved a proposal to designate Azhar, whose UN-proscribed JeM claimed responsibility for the suicide attack against Indian security forces in Pulwama on February 14 in which over 40 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel were killed.
In 2016 again, India moved the proposal with the P3 - the United States, the United Kingdom and France in the UN’s 1267 Sanctions Committee to ban Azhar, also the mastermind of the attack on the air base in Pathankot in January, 2016.
In 2017, the P3 nations moved a similar proposal again. However, on all occasions, China, a veto-wielding permanent member of the Security Council, blocked India’s proposal from being adopted by the Sanctions Committee. The official, however, insisted that the move to take action against such individuals was taken before the Pulwama attack, the report said.
