Published 20:31 IST, March 5th 2019
BIG: Donald Trump's NSA speaks to India's NSA Ajit Doval, says will back bid to designate Masood Azhar as 'global terrorist' in UN
In yet another major blow to Pakistan and the terrorists being harboured there, India's National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval on Tuesday spoke to his USA counterpart John Bolton and was told that the United States is working to ensure that Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) chief Masood Azhar is listed as a proscribed global terrorist in the United Nations.
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In yet another major blow to Pakistan and the terrorists being harboured there, India's National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval on Tuesday spoke to his USA counterpart John Bolton and was told that the United States is working to ensure that Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) chief Masood Azhar is listed as a proscribed global terrorist in the United Nations.
Furthermore, the USA reiterated its backing to India over the need to clamp down on terror camps in Pakistan. Speaking to Ajit Doval, John Bolton said that India was entitled to the right to self-defence.
The development comes at a time when Pakistan is scrambling to make it appear as though it is taking action on terrorists, in the wake of being taught a lesson by India in the aftermath of the February 14 Pulwama terror attack in which 40 CRPF soldiers were martyred in a suicide bombing perpetrated by Pakistan-based JeM terror group. Twelve days after the Pulwama attack, the IAF had carried out precision air strikes along the LoC, with the one on Balakot decimating a JeM-LeT-HM terror factory led by terrorist Masood Azhar's brother-in-law Maulana Yousuf Azhar (alias Ustad Ghouri).
The phone call between the two NSAs is the third such conversation between Ajit Doval and John Bolton in the wake of the Pulwama attack. They previously talked on February 15 during which they resolved to hold Pakistan accountable for its obligations under the UN resolutions and remove all obstacles to designate Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) leader Masood Azhar as a global terrorist.
Moreover, Bolton had extended support to India's right to self-defence against cross-border terrorism and offered all assistance to India to bring the perpetrators and backers of the attack promptly to justice.
Significantly, the United Nations Security Council had issued a strong statement wherein it had named the Jaish-e-Mohammed and asked all its member nations to assist India in bringing the Pulwama perpetrators to task.
China, which is one of the five permanent members of the UNSC, is said to have opposed this resolution and has also repeatedly vetoed India's efforts to have Masood Azhar declared as a proscribed terrorist.
Meanwhile, Masood Azhar's brother Mufti Abdur Rauf was taken into 'preventative detention for investigation' along with the 44 members of banned terrorist outfits earlier on Tuesday.
The terrorists were detained (but not arrested) by Pakistani authorities in the wake of the persistent pressure mounted on Islamabad by India and the global community over terror outfits being harbouring on Pak soil. The development came days after the Indian government handed over a dossier to Pakistan on "specific details" of the involvement of the Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) in the Pulwama terror attack.
19:18 IST, March 5th 2019