After the years of struggle, India has succeeded in convincing the UN to list Masood Azhar as a terrorist. In a big diplomatic victory for India, the UN Security Council passed a resolution late on Wednesday to add Azhar to the list of global terrorists, meaning he will face a travel ban, a freeze on his assets, and an arms embargo. Azhar is the leader of the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) group, which claimed responsibility for the bomb attack that killed 40 Indian soldiers in Pulwama in Kashmir in February. The JeM has been exporting terrorism to India for decades.
This time China has done the right thing by lifting its opposition to the move to designate Azhar as a terrorist by the UN. In the past, China’s opposition had foiled all attempts to designate Azhar as a terrorist. The move of the UN is a step in the right direction, but merely putting Azhar on the list of global terrorists will not end the terrorism emanating out of Pakistan. The international community should put more pressure on Pakistan to take some real action against terrorists like Hafeez Saeed and Masood Azhar. Further, the government of India should continue to put pressure on the global money laundering and terror finance watchdog, the Financial Action Task Force, to move Pakistan from its ‘grey list’ to its full blacklist of countries with inadequate control to curb money laundering and terrorism financing.