Jaish-e-Mohammed leader Masood Azhar, other terrorists and those financing terrorism should be sanctioned by the UN Security Council if there is evidence against them, Saudi Arabia’s deputy foreign minister Adel Al-Jubeir said on Wednesday.
Two days after a Saudi-Pakistan joint statement issued during Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s visit to Islamabad opposed “politicisation” of the UN listing regime, al-Jubeir clarified to the Indian media this wasn’t a reference to efforts to sanction Azhar through the UN’s 1267 Committee.
“Our policy on listing individuals is very clear, if someone is engaged in terrorism, if someone belongs to a terror organisation that is responsible for murdering people, if somebody finances terrorism…that person…ought to be punished and if you can’t capture that person, he or she has to be designated so that they can’t roam the world freely and when they are captured, they are brought to justice,” he told NDTV.
His remarks came against the backdrop of efforts led by France to sanction Azhar at the UN Security Council after the Pulwama terror attack, which was claimed by JeM.
Asked if India needs to provide evidence on the involvement of JeM and Azhar in terror attacks, al-Jubeir said this was the subject of an “ongoing dialogue” with Saudi Arabia and other nations.
Responding to disappointment at the Saudi prince not referring to the Pulwama attack or Pakistan-backed terror in his public remarks, al-Jubeir said: “We were one of the first countries to very strongly condemn the terrorist attack…We have very good relations with India in terms of counterterrorism (and) when it comes to exchanging information against terrorists, including information that led to stopping terrorist attacks.”
He called for dialogue between New Delhi and Islamabad, saying, “Pakistan is an important country to Saudi Arabia and India is important to Saudi Arabia and so it pains us to see conflict between two countries we believe to be two friendly nations. We believe instability in this part of the world is a danger to rest.”
He told PTI Saudi Arabia won’t mediate between the two nations “without being invited by both”.
First Published:
Feb 20, 2019 23:01 IST
Source: HindustanTimes