India tells China to act against JeM chief Masood Azhar

India raised the topic of the Jaish chief after China recently blocked a proposal by the US to add Azhar to the list of international terrorists

Beijing, Feb 22: India on Wednesday again asked China to declare Jaish-e-Mohammad chief and Pathankot mastermind Masood Azhar as an international terrorist, saying that not just New Delhi but the international community too wanted a ban on him.

"On the issue of the 1267 Committee sanctions on Masood Azhar, we again explained to them the rationale for that application and pointed out today that this was really being pursued by other countries, not by India alone," Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar briefed reporters after attending the first India-China Strategic Dialogue here.

"The fact that other countries were pressing this application showed that there was broad international support for this and concerns about Masood Azhar's activities," he added.

India raised the topic of the Jaish chief after China recently blocked a proposal by the US to add Azhar to the list of international terrorists, adding to the three rejections in 2016 to the Indian proposal.

China maintains there is not enough evidence against the Pakistani terrorist and the issue was between India and Pakistan, which should be resolved mutually.

India says Azhar is behind the terror attack on the Pathankot air base in January last year, in which seven security personnel were killed, and also behind the terror attack on the Uri army camp in Jammu and Kashmir last September.

China's technical hold on the move to list Azhar a terrorist in the 1267 committee of the UN Security Council is apparently at the behest of its all-weather friend Pakistan.

IANS