Islamabad, March 3 (Express Tribune): Pakistan is likely to withdraw its opposition to the listing of Masood Azhar, the leader of Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), as a global terrorist by the UN Security Council (UNSC), a security official said.
This is part of a policy decision Pakistan is expected to take. The Imran Khan government will go after all proscribed organizations in a decisive manner, a senior security official familiar with the development revealed here on Sunday.
However, the official insisted that the move to take action against individuals like Masood Azhar was taken before the Pulwama attack.
It is not clear what specific action would be taken against Masood Azhar but indications are that Pakistan may withdraw its opposition to the listing of Masood in the UN Security Council terror list.
“The state has to decide whether individual is important or the larger national interest of the country,” the official replied when asked if Pakistan would no more oppose the UNSC action against Azhar.
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The official also clarified the decision to act decisively was taken not to give any “face saving” to India.
“We need to correct ourselves in our own national interest and not someone else’s,” he added.
Furthermore, the official said that the Pakistani authorities had conducted investigations into the Pulwama attack and found “no evidence whatsoever of any involvement of Pakistan or any organization in the attack.”
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He said the country’s leadership had decided that Pakistan is determined to take action against anyone found involved in the Pulwama attack.
He went on to say that the dossier shared by India with Pakistan had nothing in it that suggested involvement of any Pakistani organization.
(The featured image at the top shows Maulana Masood Azhar, leader of Jaish-e-Mohammad)
