Failure to designate Masood Azhar as global terrorist against regional stability\, peace: US

Failure to designate Masood Azhar as global terrorist against regional stability, peace: US

Press Trust of India  |  Washington 

meets the criteria to be designated as a global terrorist and not doing so is against regional stability and peace, the US said Tuesday on the eve of the making a crucial decision in this regard.

In the aftermath of the February 14 attack in Pulwama, three permanent members of the - the United States, Britain and - have moved a resolution to designate Azhar as a global terrorist.

Several previous attempts by these three countries inside the were blocked by China, the all-weather ally of

China, which is one of the five veto-powered members of the Security Council, so far has been asserting that there is not enough evidence against Azhar to designate him as a global terrorist.

Amidst a mounting global outrage in the wake of the Pulwama attack that led to a flare-up in tensions between and Pakistan, US, Britain and hope that would act wisely and would not oppose their move this time to designate Azhar as a global terrorist.

On the eve of the crucial decision by the UN Security Council, the on Tuesday made it clear that there is enough evidence against Azhar to designate him as a global terrorist.

"Azhar is the founder and the of the JeM, and he meets the criteria for designation by the United Nations," State Department told reporters at his daily conference.

The JeM, he said, has been responsible for numerous terrorist attacks and is a threat to regional stability and peace.

The US and work closely together on counterterrorism efforts, and that includes at the United Nations, he added, noting that their views on the and its founder are well known.

However, he refrained from making a direct comment on the deliberations inside the UN on this issue.

"The Sanctions Committee, their deliberations, are confidential, and as such we don't comment on specific matters, but we'll continue to work with the to ensure that the designation list is updated and accurate," Palladino said.

"The and share a mutual interest in achieving regional stability and peace, and that a failure to designate Azhar would run counter to this goal," Palladino said in response to a question on previous successful attempts by to block the UN designation of Azhar.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

First Published: Wed, March 13 2019. 07:30 IST