Masood Azhar
France is all set to move a proposal at United Nations Security Council (UNSC) today to ban Masood Azhar, the dreaded chief of Pakistan-based terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM).
France is a permanent member of the UNSC. Two other permanent members, US and UK, have also decided to support the French move at UNSC to ban the JeM chief.
The French move has compounded the problems of Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan. Imran had asked India to provide evidence on Pakistan’s complicity in Pulwama terror attack. However, Pakistan-based JeM has already taken the responsibility for the Pulwama attack in which 40 CRPF personnel were martyred.
The proposal to declare Masood Azhar “global terrorist”, when moved, will be fourth such bid at the UN in past ten years.
In 2009 and 2016, India moved the UN's Sanctions Committee 1267 to ban Azhar, also the mastermind of attack on the air base in Pathankot in January, 2016.
India was joined by P3 countries --the US, the UK and France-- in the 2016 proposal.
In 2017, these P3 countries moved a similar proposal at the United Nations. However, China has always blocked the proposal from being adopted by the UN.
