India's permanent representative to the UN Syed Akbaruddin
India hopes to get JeM chief Masood Azhar designated as global terrorist.
Hope is that with support of member countries we will be able to meet our goal: Envoy
India had moved UNSC to designate Azhar as a global terrorist post-Pathankot terror attack.
India hopes to get Jaish-e-Mohammad chief Masood Azhar designated as a global terrorist by the end of the year. India's permanent representative to the UN Syed Akbaruddin has stressed that India is working patiently on the case and looking at all available options.
Speaking exclusively to India Today on a day when the UN headquarters lit to celebrate Diwali for the first time, Akbaruddin said, "We are working patiently but diligently with a large number of member countries. Our hope is that with the support of member countries we will be able to meet our goal and that goal is to list an designated a terrorist who heads an organization which is already designated as a terrorist entity. We are halfway there and we hope to get there in the not too distant future.
India had moved the UN Security Council committee under resolution 1267 earlier this year to designate Azhar as a global terrorist following the Pathankot terror attack masterminded allegedly by the JeM chief.
But China had blocked the move for a second time this year by putting the resolution on a technical hold without citing any reasons officially, first for six months and then subsequently for three months. The hold lapses in December this year wherein China can either agree to the resolution which has the support of the other members of the committee or it can use its veto to block the resolution.
Indian envoy to the UN Akbaruddin hopes that there will be a progress on the issue by the year end since Masood's organization JeM is already on the globally banned terror list and India will pursue the case to its logical outcome. "They had asked for six-month technical hold initially and subsequently they have asked for a further three months hold. That three months hold ends by the end of the year and we hope by then, all their request for technical information are fulfilled and we will get a new year gift in terms of designating terrorist leader as UN designated individual," Akbaruddin added.