Delhi wants JeM chief's brother Abdul Rauf Asghar on UN sanctions list

NEW DELHI: Even as India's attempt to get Maulana Masood Azhar enlisted as a "global terrorist" by the UN Sanctions' Committee under the Security Council Resolution 1267 has once again failed due to China's opposition, the Narendra Modi government is now working to put the Jaish-e-Mohammad chief 's younger brother Abdul Rauf Asghar on the list.

Top government sources told TOI that a proposal to designate Abdul Rauf Asghar, who is the JeM chief 's partner in terrorist activities, a global terrorist, is under consideration and it could be soon sent to the UN. A senior official in the home ministry said "this shows that we are not going to step back from our fight against terror and exposing Pakistan for supporting dangerous terrorists like Azhar, even though China has repeatedly vetoed our move and it has now become a contentious issue".

Asghar was the mastermind of the December 24, 1999 hijacking of Indian Airlines plane — IC-814 — and the subsequent release of Azhar and two other terrorists by the Indian government in lieu of the safe release of the passengers.

Abdul Rauf Asghar, who according to intelligence agencies also operates from Pak- occupied Kashmir (PoK), is also alleged to be involved along with his brother in the December 2001 Parliament attack. He was charge-sheeted last month by National Investigation Agency (NIA) as the mastermind of the January, 2016 Pathankot terror attack in which eight security personnel were killed. An Interpol red corner notice (RCN) has already been issued against him.

Indian officials say there is "irrefutable" evidence against Masood Azhar and his brother Asghar for putting them in the UN sanctions' list. The UN Committee, government functionaries claim, is keen to put Azhar in its global terrorist list, but China has been opposing it with its veto power of permanent membership.