Congress did not effectively pursue matter of designating Masood Azhar as global terrorist: Ram Madhav

BJP General Secretary Ram Madhav on Thursday said Congress party did not make adequate efforts to ensure that chief of terrorist organisation JeM was designated as a global terrorist.

Madhav asserted that the process in the connection was initiated by the Congress in 2009 but was not 'effectively pursued'.

"The efforts (for designating Azhar as a global terrorist) started in 2009 when UPA was in power. It is another matter that during UPA regime the matter was not pursued as effectively as it should have been. But after Prime Minister Modi took charge, this matter was consistently perused and finally, we have seen this significant outcome," Madhav told ANI.

He also mocked Congress and said, "I hope that our opposition does not start blaming us for misusing international institutions like Security Council for our political and electoral ends. I hope they will also join the whole country in welcoming this decision."

Madhav further termed the development as victory for India's political establishment and diplomatic core.

"India has been pursuing this matter for several years. We have been approaching and mobilising the support of the global community. Finally, many countries have joined hand and countries like France, USA and UK have shown enormous interest in this critical matter. The critical hold by China that delayed this decision was also removed by efforts of our diplomatic channel. All these efforts have finally fortified. People of our country would be certainly very happy with this decision," he said.

Azhar, the head of Pakistan-based JeM that orchestrated the February 14 Pulwama terror attack, was designated as a 'global terrorist' by the United Nations after China also joined efforts to blacklist him.

The UN action came a day after China called for "political consultation within the framework of 1267 committee" to "properly resolve" the issue pertaining to the listing of Azhar as a global terrorist by the UN.

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.