France to move proposal at UN to ban Jaish chief Masood Azhar tonight

France will move a proposal at the United Nations to ban Masood Azhar, head of the UN-proscribed Jaish-e-Mohammad, which claimed responsibility for the deadly Pulwama attack in Jammu and Kashmir. It comes as a major boost to India's efforts to get Masood Azhar on the list of global terrorists.

Masood Azhar. Photo: AFP

NEW DELHI: France will on Wednesday move a proposal at the United Nations to ban Masood Azhar, head of the UN-proscribed Jaish-e-Mohammad, which claimed responsibility for the deadly Pulwama attack in Jammu and Kashmir. It comes as a major boost to India's efforts to get Masood Azhar on the list of global terrorists. The proposal, 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. According to sources, this time around also, France, a permanent member of the UN, is expected to be joined by other countries in the proposal. "At the UN, France will lead a proposal to put Masood Azhar on the terrorist list... It will happen in a couple of days," a senior French source told PTI. The French sources also said that the country will insist on maintaining Pakistan on the "grey list" of countries at the ongoing meet of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) in Paris. Pakistan was placed on the FATF grey list in June 2018 and put on notice to be blacklisted by October 2019 if it did not curb money laundering and terror financing. After the Pulwama attack, New Delhi reached out to the international community, most of which condemned the terror strike, to highlight the role of Pakistan in using terrorism as an instrument of state policy. (With PTI inputs)