BJP says Masood Azhar's arrest a 'positive step'

NEW DELHI: BJP today described the arrest of Jaish-e-Mohammad chief Maulana Masood Azhar as a "positive step" which was a "good" thing for the peace-loving and development-oriented people of India and Pakistan.

"If the media reports of the arrest (Azhar's) is correct, then it is a positive step which is good a thing for the peace-loving and development-oriented people of the two countries," BJP national secretary and its media cell in-charge Shrikant Sharma said.

"If Pakistan acts against terrorism then it is good for the people of both countries because terrorists are enemies of the humanity. The whole world today is united in rooting out terrorism," he said.

Sharma noted that Prime Minister Marendra Modi had "conveyed the nation's anger" to his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif who, he added, had assured him of action. These arrests have come within 13 days of the incident so it is a positive step, he said.

BJP spokesperson Shahnawaz Hussain said India has put its position before Pakistan and hoped results will come.

"We want to maintain good ties with them. We want friendship but the balm on the wounds inflicted upon us in Pathankot will only be applied when action is taken against the attackers and the conspirators of the attack," he said.

Pakistan today arrested Masood Azhar, his brother and "several individuals" belonging to his dreaded outfit, which is suspected to have engineered the Pathankot attack, and sealed its offices after India demanded action on the group linking it to the fate of Foreign Secretary-level talks.