New Delhi: Defence expert Qamar Agha on Friday welcomed the government’s move to request the United Nations to include Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar in the sanctions’ list and said that the latter should have been declared a terrorist long back.
He said that many South Asian nations have already banned the JeM.
“He is a well known terrorist; he was involved in number of attacks. He was in jail and then he was released. He was responsible for murder of hundreds of people. He has conducted several operations in India and Pakistan. Many nations have already declared Jaish-e-Mohammed as terrorist organisation and their main operative Masood Azhar as a terrorist,” he said.
“UN Security Council should have declared him a terrorist long back. He was the one involved in many attacks. The last one was on Pathankot,” he added.
Meanwhile, another Defence expert Lieutenant General (Retd.) Raj Kadyan said that India is likely to get support from many countries in this regard.
“It is a well known fact that terrorists have been using Pakistani soil to launch attacks on neighboring countries. Now, even the western nations are wary of the fact that terrorism can hurt them. So, we are likely to get support from many countries in the United Nations…Let us assume that the world agrees with it. But even Hafiz Sayeed was declared a terrorist, but what happened he is roaming around freely in Pakistan,” he said.
“So, it is good thing that India is going to the UN, but whether Pakistan changes its foreign policy which is based on terrorism is yet to be seen,” he added.
The Ministry of External Affairs had yesterday said that India has already submitted to the UN’s Sanction Committee a fresh list of 11 terrorists from Pakistan -based terror groups affiliated to Al Qaeda, Taliban and other outfits responsible for terrorism in the country.
“I can also confirm to you that we will be moving the 1267 Committee to also include the name of Masood Azhar on the sanctions list. It is a great anomaly that the organization Jaish-e-Mohammad is listed but not its leader,” said MEA official spokesperson Vikas Swarup on Thursday.
Previously, India’s move to get Masood Azhar banned by the UN was scuttled by China. (ANI)