AGENCY
New Delhi: India has told the UN that Jaish-e- Mohammed chief Masood Azhar was one of the handlers of the terrorists who attacked the Pathankot airbase and his outfit received arms training from Taliban.
In its failed bid to have Masood designated as terrorist by the UN, India has conveyed to the world body that he and his terrorist group JeM have continuously engineered terror attacks against India, the latest instance being the strike on Pathankot airbase on January 2.
The attack was engineered by terrorists belonging to JeM and credible evidence has emerged that the handlers of the terrorists were senior leaders of JeM, including Masood Azhar, according to the Draft List Entry submitted in the UN.
Further, incriminating material has also been recovered from the dead terrorists disclosing their links to the terrorist organisation, it said.
Masood had a meeting with Lashkar-e-Taiba founder Hafiz Saeed and Hizbul Mujahideen chief Syed Salahuddin and decided to “avenge” the hanging of Afzal Guru, who was convicted for the 2001 attack on Parliament. “A decision was taken in the meeting for possible cooperation with the Taliban to train terrorists for this purpose.
There are credible intelligence reports that elements of JeM have actually received training in tactics, use of weapons and psychological warfare from the Taliban,” the draft said. At the behest of Pakistan, China had blocked India’s bid to have Azhar designated as terrorist by the UN in the aftermath of the Pathankot strike.(PTI)
