Tribune News Service
New Delhi, May 2
India today said the core issue was getting Masood Azhar designated as an international terrorist and it was immaterial if Pulwama and Kashmir were mentioned or not.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and the Ministry of External Affairs spokespersons said this at separate press conferences here today. Jaitley was joined by Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman who credited PM Narendra Modi for his “persistent measures” that led to Azhar’s sanctioning.
Jaitley went on to accuse the Congress of being ‘afraid’ of joining the BJP in celebrating this diplomatic victory. “This is also why they are now claiming that they conducted surgical strikes. Those were invisible surgical strikes,” he added, referring to an interview by former PM Manmohan Singh that several unannounced surgical strikes were conducted against Pakistan during his tenure.
In an attempt to play down the Opposition’s claim that the sanctioning was trivial, Jaitley pointed out that the current dispensation succeeded in a task that had occupied the energy of successive governments for a decade.
The Ministry of External Affairs said Pakistan was in a pincer grip that would make it difficult to avoid taking action against Azhar.
In addition to the binding obligation to implement the UNSC decision, Pakistan is also under pressure from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), which wants it to demonstrate effective implementation of targeted financial sanctions against all UN-designated terrorists and their bagmen.
“At the next FATF plenary next month, Pakistan will be obligated to take action as per FATF procedures,” said Ministry of External Affairs spokesman Ravish Kumar.
The Foreign Office dwelt on the absence of any reference to the Pulwama terror attack in the UNSC communiqué. “Please understand that our objective all along has been the designation of Masood Azhar as a terrorist. This process started in 2009 when Pulwama terror attack had not taken place,” he said.
The designation is not based on a specific incident but on the basis of the evidence shared with the members of the 1267 Sanctions Committee linking Azhar to terrorism.
In the UN notification, it very clearly states that Azhar was listed for participating in the financing, planning, facilitating and perpetrating terrorist activities associated with JeM.
“This broadly covers all terror activities he has been involved in. The notification is not supposed to be a bio-data of the terrorist and include all acts of terrorism perpetrated by him,” he added.
‘Result of diplomacy’
Under international pressure and effect of India’s diplomacy that hurdle was removed yesterday (Wednesday) and it has come as a big opportunity for India in its fight against terrorism. — Nirmala Sitharaman, Defence minister
‘Proof changed china’
They (UN) don’t have to give details of his each and every activity.. it is the material provided by India, which included Azhar's role in the Pulwama attack, that resulted in China’s change of attitude. — Arun Jaitley, Finance minister
from The Tribune http://bit.ly/2WneiwK
via Today’s News Headlines
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