Won’t sit idle till Azhar punished: India

New York, September 17 

Hoping that the UN would soon designate Masood Azhar as a terrorist, a top Indian diplomat has said that New Delhi will not sit idle till the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed leader is brought to justice.

India has identified Azhar as the mastermind of the Pathankot terror attack on January 2, 2016. It has also blamed his brother Rauf and five others for carrying out the attack in which seven Indian soldiers were killed along with all six terrorists.

“If I were to use a term, the matter is what we would call in judicial terms sub-judice. At present, the matter is with a UN committee. We hope that the committee will be able to fulfil its role in designating Masood Azhar who we have tried for quite some time but have not succeeded yet,” India’s Permanent Representative to the UN Syed Akbaruddin said here.

“However, we would like to make it very clear, we will pursue Masood Azhar so that the ends of justice are met," he said yesterday at a news conference in response to a question on India's effort towards terrorist designation of Azhar, which has repeatedly been blocked by China.

China in August extended by three months its technical hold on the US, France and UK-backed proposal to designate the Pathankot attack mastermind as a global terrorist by the UN. If China would not have extended the technical hold last month, Azhar would have automatically been designated under the UN as a terrorist.

A veto-wielding permanent member of the Security Council, China has repeatedly blocked India’s move to put a ban on the J-e-M chief under the Al-Qaida Sanctions Committee of the Council. 

Last year in March, China was the sole member in the 15-nation UN organ to put a hold on India’s application with other 14 members supporting New Delhi’s bid to place Azhar on the 1,267 sanctions list. “He (Azhar) may try to delay this, but the inevitable will happen.  The clock is ticking for him. He will be pursued until justice is met,” Akbaruddin said. — PTI

Sushma’s diplomacy schedule

• External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj will represent India at the annual UN General Assembly session with a packed schedule of super diplomacy among an array of world leaders
• The formal meetings will begin on Monday with a summit convened by US President Trump to discuss reforming the UN, where he will address the body of world leaders for the first time
• The formal round of addresses by the leaders will take place on Tuesday. Sushma is scheduled to speak on Saturday. She is expected to hold 20 bilateral and trilateral meetings 

‘Set up arbitration court to settle water Row’

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