India steps up bid for Masood Azhar terror tag

In a move that could strengthen India’s case of getting Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Maulana Masood Azhar designated as a global terrorist by the United Nations, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) will file chargesheet against Azhar and his brother Rauf Asghar giving details of the evidence and the conspiracy hatched by them to attack the strategic Pathankot Air Force base in January this year.

Sources said once the NIA formally files the chargesheet before a designated court, India will use the evidence and launch a diplomatic offensive at various international fora against Jaish and Masood Azhar. The home ministry had recently granted permission to NIA to charge both Masood Azhar and his brother Rauf Asghar in connection with the Pathankot incident.

Even though India has been trying to get Masood Azhar declared a banned terrorist by UN, the move has so far been strong opposed by China. Home ministry officials said once detailed evidence is provided against Masood Azhar in a court the international community will respond favourably to India’s request.

Following the Pathankot attack, Rauf Asghar had hosted a video message claiming responsibility for the terror strike and glorified the role of his brother, Masood Azhar, who was released following the hijack of Indian Airlines flight IC-814 in 1999.

In addition to Masood Azhar and Rauf Asghar, the chargesheet will also name two handlers of the four killed terrorists, Qashif Jan and Shaid Latif, under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.

Among the evidence likely to be mentioned in the detailed chargesheet would be linking the footprints of one of the terrorists obtained from Bamiyal in addition to matching the DNA sample, found from a soft drink can in the hijacked car of Punjab SP, Salwinder Singh, with that of the killed militants.

Following the Pathankot attack, India had allowed a joint investigation team from Pakistan, which included an officer from the ISI, to visit here.

However, Pakistan did not allow a similar visit by the NIA team despite repeated requests from India.

On the contrary, the Pakistani team on its return alleged that India did not share details of the evidence collected by its investigating agencies and it was not allowed to interrogate security officials who were involved in the operation to eliminate the four militants.