Congress says govt should push for bounty on Azhar’s head

The Congress on Wednesday welcomed blacklisting of Pakistan-based JeM chief Masood Azhar as a global terrorist and said the government should push for announcement of bounty on his head as was done by the UPA government against LeT chief Hafiz Saeed.

In a statement, Congress Communications in-charge RandeepSingh Surjewala said that designation of Azhar as a global terrorist was onlythe first step and that Pakistan must be forced to dismantle the entire terrorinfrastructure operating from its soil.

   

Azhar heads Jaish-e-Mohammed which had claimedresponsibility for Pulwama attack in which 40 CRPF personnel were killed.

“All wanted terrorists like Masood Azhar, Hafiz Saeed,Dawood Ibrahim, Haji Mohammad Yahya Mujahid, Abdul Salaam and Zafar Iqbalthriving on Pakistani soil and involved in heinous terror attacks in India mustbe forthwith deported to India and brought to justice,” he said.

He demanded that Modi government should pursue blacklistingof Pakistan as a terrorist state by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).

“Modi government should now push for declaration ofbounty on the head Masood Azhar as was ensured by the UPA government in case ofHafiz Saeed,” he said.

The party said Modi government should have acted withgreater speed in getting Masood Azhar proscribed and alleged that it did notpush the case with China in 2018 following Modi govenrment’s”agenda-less” visit to China.

It said that loss of precious lives in attacks like inPulwama could have been avoided if government had pushed the internationalcommunity, including China, to agree to declaring Azhar as an internationalterrorist.

“History is replete with BJP’s compromises of nationalsecurity in tackling terrorism, which is reflected in actions like the releaseof Maulana Masood Azhar, Mushtaq Ahmed Zargar and Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh inKandahar, Afghanistan, by then BJP-led government.”

Surjewala said that following 26/11 Mumbai attacks,UPA-Congress government’s response was to isolate and diplomatically exposePakistan as a terror hub, besides rallying the international community for adecisive action against terrorists.

“Within 14 days of the Mumbai attack, we got China toagree to declare Hafiz Saeed a global terrorist under the 1267 SanctionsCommittee of UN. The UPA ensured that a $10 m bounty was placed on the head ofthe Mumbai attack perpetrator by America.

“Another mastermind David Headley was held guilty andsentenced to 35 years of prison during the UPA government in 2013,” hesaid.

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