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Updated: May 07, 2020 20:40 IST

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said that the listing of Jaish-e-Mohammad chief Masood Azhar as a global terrorist is a “big victory for India in its fight against terrorism”.

In a tweet, he said, “We’ve just got news from the United Nations that notorious terrorist Masood Azhar has been listed as a global terrorist. This is a major breakthrough in India’s struggle against terrorism and its long standing efforts to uproot terrorism.”

Terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar’s blacklisting by the UN sanctions committee marks a high point for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s foreign policy, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said on Wednesday.

WATCH | PM Modi hails ‘big victory’ after UN sanctions on Jaish chief Masood Azhar

“India stands vindicated. Masood Azhar is now a global terrorist. India is in safe hands,” the Finance Minister tweeted minutes after India’s permanent representative to the United Nations Syed Akbaruddin made the announcement on Twitter.

China had blocked four attempts to designate Masood Azhar as a global terrorist, the last one in March this year before it backed down. The move is seen as a diplomatic victory for Indian efforts.

Also read| Will immediately enforce sanctions imposed on Jaish chief Masood Azhar: Pak

The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party welcomed the UN Security Council decision and described it as a historic success against terrorism. UN Security Council has declared Masood Azhar responsible for the Pulwama attack as a global terrorist…. Modi makes it possible,” the party tweeted.

Samajwadi Party’s Akhilesh Yadav too joined in, complimenting Indian diplomatic corps for the “tireless work” that led to the significant victory. “It is the first step in ensuring Masood Azhar pays for his crimes. We demand Pakistan immediately arrest him, freeze his assets and shut down all organisations linked to him,” Akhilesh Yadav tweeted.

The Jaishe-e-Mohammed carried out the Pulwama suicide bombing in February that killed 40 CRPF soldiers. It was the deadliest bombing in Jammu and Kashmir in a 30-year-long militancy and led to a spike in tensions between India and Pakistan.

Also read| Found no objection to list Masood Azhar after studying revised materials: China

The United States, Britain and France had asked the Security Council’s sanctions committee to blacklist the Jaish founder that would lead to an arms embargo, travel ban and asset freeze soon after. China, however, vetoed the move.

The Jaish was blacklisted by the UN Security Council in 2001, the same year a group of Jaish terrorists along with those from the Lashkar-e-Taiba attacked Parliament.

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