New Delhi: External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj challenged Pakistani PM Imran Khan saying that if he wants peace then he should hand over Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar to India. Speaking at a conference Swaraj said if Imran Khan is such a big statesman and wants to have good ties with India, then he should just hand over Azhar to India. She said “Imran Khan is showing a lot of gratitude. He wants to conduct peace talks. If Imran Khan is grateful, why can’t he handover Masood Azhar? Let us see his big heart. He should give us Azhar. Why doesn't he give us Masood Azhar?”.
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It is to be noted that china blocked India’s bid in the UN Security Council for the fourth time to get JeM Chief Masood Azhar listed as designated as “global terrorist” by putting a technical hold on the proposal. While India termed this move as disappointing it got support from 10 countries which supported its bid to list Azhar.
However, to be noted that the proposal to list Azhar under the 1267 Al Qaeda Sanctions Committee of the UN Security Council was moved by France, the UK and the US on February 27, days after a suicide bomber of the Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) killed 44 CRPF soldiers in South Kashmir's Pulwama. The tension between both the nuclear-armed neighbours escalated after this attack.
In response to Pulwama terror attack, the IAF conducted air strikes on JeM terror camps in Pakistan’s Balakot and the Centre claimed that 200 to 300 terrorists were killed in the airike.
