US leads global community in welcoming move to list Masood Azhar as global terrorist

In Islamabad, Pakistan’s Foreign Office spokesman said Pakistan had advocated the need for respecting technical rules of the UN’s 1267 Sanctions Committee and opposed its politicisation.

The US led the world community in welcoming the listing of Masood Azhar as a global terrorist, saying it expects all UN members to enforce an assets freeze, a travel ban and an arms embargo on him.

The US led the world community in welcoming the listing of Masood Azhar as a global terrorist, saying it expects all UN members to enforce an assets freeze, a travel ban and an arms embargo on him. (AFP File Photo)

While a UN statement and the sanctions committee’s “narrative summary of the reasons” for listing Azhar did not name Pakistan, where he is based, the US statement did. “We appreciate...Imran Khan’s stated commitment that Pakistan, for the sake of its own future, will not allow the operation of militant and terrorist groups from its territory,” the statement said.

France, which backed the proposal to sanction Azhar, welcomed the move and said it “signals the successful realisation” of its efforts. For many years, France had been working for the sanctioning of Azhar, the “head of the terrorist group responsible, notably, for the Pulwama attack”, it said in a statement. Britain said the designation of Azhar was a positive development for stability in South Asia and “long overdue”.