Azhar tag not based on 1 incident: Govt

New Delhi: On the wording of the proposal for designation of Masood Azhar as global terrorist by the UN that apparently had no reference to the Pulwama terror attack, Government sources late on Wednesday evening said the designation was not based on just a single incident but on the larger evidence linking Azhar to terrorism. Indian Government sources also lambasted Pakistan, accusing it of “attempting to salvage something from this huge diplomatic setback for it by diverting the narrative.”

Indian Government sources said, “The objective has been the designation of Masood Azhar as a terrorist and that objective has been achieved. Pakistan is mischievously attempting to salvage something out of this huge diplomatic setback for them by diverting the narrative.”

Sources added, “The process of listing started in 2009. Since then, several efforts have been made to list Masood Azhar. This was much before Pulwama terror attack took place. Pulwama happened to be the latest act of terror but the designation was not based on a specific incident.”

Sources further said, “It is not supposed to be a bio-data of a terrorist that all acts of terror committed by him would be listed in the notification. However, all acts of terrorism, including Pulwama, were relevant to the listing.”