Digvijaya attacks PM: How will listing Masood help when Imran Khan friends with Modi

Bhopal: Senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh asked how designating Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) chief Masood Azhar as a global terrorist would help when Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan flaunts his friendship with Narendra Modi.

At a time when the nation is celebrating India's diplomatic victory, Singh, Congress' candidate from Bhopal, said, "How will listing (Masood Azhar as a global terrorist) help when Pakistan Prime Minister is flaunting his friendship with Modi ji. I would say, Dawood Ibrahim, Masood Azhar, and Hafiz Saeed should be immediately handed over to India."

In a huge diplomatic victory for India, the UN Sanctions Committee on Wednesday designated Azhar a global terrorist after China lifted its hold on a proposal to ban him.

Reacting to the development, Chidambaram said Azhar was released in 1999 by a BJP government after the hijack of an Indian Airlines aircraft.

"After Masood Azhar masterminded the Mumbai terror attack in 2008, the process to name him as a global terrorist was started by a Congress/UPA government in 2009," said Chidambaram.

"We are happy that the process has concluded successfully in 2019. But why does the Prime Minister of Pakistan want Mr Modi to continue as Prime Minister of India?" the former home minister said in a series of tweets.

Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati attacked the Prime Minister over his remark on Masood Azhar's declaration as global terrorist by UNSC. "Earlier, the BJP government made Azhar a guest and later freed him abroad, now at the time of elections they are trying to gather votes on his name, it is condemnable."

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath expressed uncertainty on whether the designation of Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) chief Masood Azhar as a 'global terrorist' had anything to do with the ongoing Lok Sabha elections in the country.

"It (listing Masood Azhar) was long due, it is good that it has been done. This should have happened a long time ago. I don't know if this has something to do with the elections," he told reporters here.

India's representative to the United Nations Syed Akburuddin on Wednesday declared Masood Azhar as global terrorist by the UN.

Azhar is the head of the terrorist group responsible, notably, for the Pulwama attack on February 14, which killed 40 CRPF personnel in South Kashmir.

A global terrorist tag under the UN's 1267 committee would lead to a freeze on Azhar's assets and a ban on his travel and constraints on possessing weapons, similarly to the Al Qaida and ISIL (the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant).

 

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