'India's bid for UN ban on Masood Azhar 'politically motivated'

Pakistan on Sunday slammed India's bid to have Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) chief Masood Azhar banned by the United Nations as a "politically motivated proposal" aimed at "masking its own terrorist activities in Pakistan", the media reported.

Responding to reports on India failing to put Azhar on the UNSC's 1267 Sanctions Committee, Pakistan Foreign Office spokesperson Nafees Zakaria said, "The 1267 Sanctions Committee related to ISIS/Al-Qaeda has rejected a politically motivated proposal by India."

"Replete with frivolous information and baseless allegations, the Indian proposal had no merit and was primarily aimed at advancing its narrow national agenda," the Dawn quoted Zakaria as saying, two days after Pakistan's close ally China blocked the proposal to get the JeM chief and Pathankot attack mastermind listed as a global terrorist.

Zakaria lauded the blocking of the proposal as a rejection of "Indian attempts to politicise and undermine the work of this important committee of the Security Council."

"While claiming to denounce terrorism, India has, in fact, deployed terrorism as an instrument of state policy, and has itself been involved in perpetrating, sponsoring, supporting, and financing terrorism," Zakaria said.

He said, "The arrest of Kulbhushan Jadhav, a RAW agent and serving officer of Indian Navy, and his confession about involvement in terrorist activities aimed at destabilising Pakistan, is yet another proof of Indian-sponsored terrorism in Pakistan."

"With such duplicitous behaviour and blood on its hands, India has little credibility on counter-terrorism," the spokesperson said, adding that Pakistan will share dossiers on alleged Indian involvement in terrorism in Pakistan with the UN and members of the international community soon.

Zakaria said that Pakistan had made significant contributions and rendered enormous sacrifices in the success of the international community's counter-terrorism efforts.

"We are deeply committed to this common cause and look forward to continuing close cooperation with the international community in this collective endeavour," he added.

--IANS

soni/vt