All members should abide by UN sanctions committee's decision on Azhar: UN chief

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has expressed hope that all member states will abide by the decision of the sanctions committee of the world body which imposed an arms embargo, asset freeze and travel ban on Pakistan-based JeM chief Masood Azhar.

The UN sanctions committee on the Islamic State and Al-Qaeda on Wednesday announced the designation of Azhar, leader of Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), over its ties to Al-Qaeda.

The JeM has claimed responsibility for the Pulwama suicide attack that killed 40 CRPF soldiers and led to a spike in military tensions between India and Pakistan.

In response to a question on Guterres' reaction, his spokesman said: "This is the work of a well-established mechanism through the Sanctions Committee of the Security Council. It is a big part of the United Nations work in the fight against terrorism".

"It's always good when all member states of the security council agree on something. We would of course hope that all member states abide by those decisions," he said.

The United Nations designated Azhar as a "global terrorist" after China lifted its hold on a proposal to blacklist him.

The US, France along with the UK had moved the proposal to designate Azhar as a "global terrorist" in the UN Security Council's 1267 Al-Qaeda Sanctions Committee in February.

A Security Council member said that Germany, Belgium and Poland also co-sponsored the proposal, adding that there has been new unity and these three delegations also supported the proposal to list Azhar.