India slams 'technical hold' on slapping sanctions on JeM chief Masood Azhar

India on Friday said it was disappointed that a "technical hold" has been put on its application to include the name of Pathankot terror attack mastermind, Jaish-e-Mohamed chief Mohamad Masood Azhar, in the UN sanctions list, and criticised the UN sanctions committee of adopting a "selective approach to combating terrorism".

In a statement, the ministry of external affairs spokesperson Vikas Swarup said: "We find it incomprehensible that while the Pakistan-based JeM was listed in UN Security Council Committee established under UNSCR 1267/1989/2253 as far back as 2001 for its well-known terror activities and links to the Al Qaeda, the designation of the group's main leader, financier and motivator has been put on a technical hold."

"The recent terror attack in Pathankot on January 2 has shown that India continues to bear the dangerous consequences of not listing Masood Azhar . Given the global networking of terrorist groups, this has implications for the entire international community," the statement said.

"It needs no emphasis that the UNSCR 1267 regime is an important building block of the UN global counter terrorism strategy that should aim to protect all member states and their citizens from the activities of terror groups such as JeM and its leader Mohamad Masood Azhar."

"Its working methods, based on the principles of unanimity and anonymity, is leading the Committee to adopt a selective approach to combating terrorism. This does not reflect well on the determination that the international community needs to display to decisively defeat the menace of terrorism," the statement said.