The Ministry of External Affairs Thursday said that the Pulwama attack played a role in the listing of Jaish-e-Mohammad chief Masood Azhar as a ‘global terrorist’.
Addressing the press a day after China lifted its technical hold on the listing of Masood Azhar, MEA spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said, “Our objective was to ensure the designation of Masood Azhar as a global terrorist,” adding that the Pulwama terror attack in which 40 CRPF soldiers were killed, played a key role in Azhar’s designation.
“The designation is not based on the basis of a specific incident, but on the basis of evidence which we have shared with members of the UN’s 1267 Sanctions Committee, linking Azhar to several acts of terrorism,” he said.
Earlier, reports had said that China was expected to lift its hold on blacklisting Masood Azhar at a UN sanctions committee on May 1.
On Sunday, Pakistan has said that they are ‘open to the listing’ of Jaish Chief Masood Azhar as long as he is not related to the Pulwama attack, reported the News 18.
According to the report, the statement was given by Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs Spokesperson Mohammad Faisal on a Pakistani TV show, Islamabad Views, on Sunday.
“(India should) give evidence that Masood Azhar had anything to do with the attack in Pulwama. If that is not the case, then we can discuss the listing. It is not a big issue,” Faisal said. Stating that the Pulwama attack was a separate issue, Faisal said that his country had said, several times, that India was trying to “suppress” the indigenous uprising in Jammu and Kashmir.
Recently, China told the United States to hold its resolution on Masood Azhar, saying that the matter was ‘moving in direction of settlement’.
