Pulwama attack: India rises pitch to get Masood Azhar declared as global terrorist

New Delhi, Feb 14: In the wake of dastardly attack on CRPF convoy in South Kashmir's Pulwama which left around 40 jawans martyred, India on Thursday reiterated its demand that the Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) chief Maulana Masood Azhar be declared as terrorist.

A Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorist rammed an explosive-laden vehicle into the bus in which the CRPF personnel were travelling. The vehicle belonged to 54 battalion of the CRPF. The blast reduced the bus to a mangled heap of iron and body parts could be seen strewn around the area.

"This terror group is led by international terrorist Masood Azhar, who has been given full freedom by Government of Pakistan to operate and expand his terror infrastructure in territories under the control of Pakistan and to carry out attacks in India and elsewhere with impunity," MEA statement said.

"We reiterate our appeal to members of international community to support proposal to list terrorists, including JeM Chief, as a designated terrorist under 1267 Sanctions Committee of UN Security Council and ban terror organisations operating from territories controlled by Pakistan," it further said.

Masood Azhar is accused of several deadly terrorist attacks in India, including one on the Uri military base in Jammu and Kashmir in 2016, in which 17 security personnel were killed. China, being a veto-wielding permanent member of the UN Security Council, has repeatedly blocked India's move to get Azhar declared as global terrorist.

The US, Britain and France all back India to designate Masood Azhar a terrorist under the Al-Qaeda Sanctions Committee of the UN Security Council.

India has always faced the Chinese block when it came to Azhar. China has said that it will not support the ban. China, while defending the terrorist, has argued that the issue lacks "consensus" among the members of the UN Security Council as well as the "directly concerned" parties - India and Pakistan.