The Gujarat ATS has arrested a 22-year-old tailor, Faizan Shaikh, accused of being highly radicalized and planning targeted killings in Uttar Pradesh for perceived insults to Prophet Muhammad. He allegedly operated as a 'lone wolf' and had connections to terror groups like Jaish-e-Mohammed and Al Qaeda.
The fresh Red Corner notice was issued after the National Investigation Agency secured an 'open-ended' non-bailable warrant against Azhar and Rauf for allegedly conspiring to carry out terror strike on the strategic Indian Air Force base at Pathankot on the intervening night of January 1 and 2.
If Pakistan allows India to send its investigation team to question Azhar it would take the India-Pakistan camaraderie to a new level, says Rajeev Sharma.
China said it took the decision after it found no objection to the listing proposal by the United States, the United Kingdom and France following a careful study of the revised materials
India has formally approached the United Nations to include Jaish-e-Mohammad chief and Pathankot terror attack mastermind Masood Azhar in the Security Council's sanctions list, strongly emphasising the urgency to take action against him.
Pakistan on Wednesday arrested Jaish-e-Mohammad chief Maulana Masood Azhar, his brother and "several individuals" belonging to his dreaded outfit, which is suspected to have engineered the Pathankot terror attack, and sealed its offices after India demanded action, linking it to the fate of Foreign Secretary-level talks.
JeM commander Ilyas Kashmiri also said that the Pakistan Army and the jihadis have become one after 25 years of his outfit's struggle.
"The United States and China share a mutual interest in achieving regional stability and peace, and that a failure to designate Azhar would run counter to this goal," State Department Deputy Spokesperson Robert Palladino said in response to a question on previous successful attempts by China to block the UN designation of Azhar
The former army chief was also quoted as saying that the Nawaz Sharif government lacks aggression.
"If slogans are raised on reputed campuses for fragmenting India, resolutions are made to destroy it, and if Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru is hailed as a martyr, it is shameful and disconcerting," an appeal which has the consent of 33 individuals, including intellectuals and artistes, says.
China was the sole member in the 15-nation UN organ to put a hold on India's application with the rest 14 members of the Council supporting New Delhi's bid to place Azhar on the 1267 sanctions list that would subject him to an assets freeze and travel ban.
The proposal is the fourth such bid at the UN in the last 10 years to list Azhar as a global terrorist.
Wang and Swaraj also discussed issues relating to annual BRICS summit which will be hosted by India in Goa in October.
Pakistan-based terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammad chief Maulana Masood Azhar and his brother Abdul Rauf Asghar, mastermind of IC-814 hijack case, are among four persons identified by Indian intelligence agencies as 'handlers' behind the recent Pathankot attack.
Swaraj took up the issue with Wang at a bilateral meeting in Moscow on the sidelines of the Russia-India-China trilateral meeting of their foreign ministers.
A special NIA court based in Mohali issued the 'open-ended non-bailable warrant' against Azhar, his brother, main handlers Kashif Jaan and Shaid Latif for allegedly entering into a criminal conspiracy with JeM terrorists for carrying out a terror strike on the Indian Air Force base.
India believes "terrorism is a major issue for China. They know a number of terror groups are based in Pakistan", sources added.
India on Wednesday hit out at China for demanding "solid evidence" for getting Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar banned by the United Nations
A woman doctor arrested in connection with an inter-state terror module was part of Jamaat-ul-Mominaat, an organization launched by Jaish-e-Mohammed, officials said.
China, a veto-wielding member of the United Nations Security Council and a close ally of Pakistan, has repeatedly foiled India's bid to list Azhar as a global terrorist, saying there is no consensus in the top organ of the world body on this issue.
Jaish-e-Mohammad chief Maulana Masood Azhar has acknowledged that 10 members of his family and four close associates were killed in India's missile attack on the outfit's headquarters in Bahawalpur. The statement attributed to Azhar said those killed included his elder sister and her husband, a nephew and his wife, another niece, and five children from his extended family. The attack also claimed the lives of one of Azhar's close associates and his mother, along with two other close companions.
For two decades after his release in exchange for passengers of a hijacked Indian Airlines plane in 1999, Azhar has since been the darling of Pakistan's external snooping agency Inter-Services Intelligence.
The officials said they had no information other than that Azhar was undergoing treatment at an army hospital after suffering renal failure.
"Both India and China are victims of terrorism and the region was suffering from the menace. The prime minister said no country is immune from terrorism and on this issue, we cannot afford to have any differences," MEA spokesperson Vikas Swarup told reporters after the meeting.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says China 'protects' violent Islamic terror groups from UN sanctions.
Liu Jinsong, deputy chief of mission and minister at the chinese embassy, justified China's action on India's bid against the Pakistan-based terrorist and said his country can't be the judge to decide who is right and who is wrong on the issue.
Pakistan-based terror groups Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) and Hizbul Mujahideen (HM) have begun relocating their bases to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) province from Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir in the wake of India's Operation Sindoor, sources said.
The talks are taking place in the backdrop of China blocking at the United Nations India's move to get Jaish-e-Mohammad chief designated as international terrorist. Doval is expected to raise this issue with Yang.
Sources have revealed that at least five hardcore terrorists affiliated with banned terror outfits Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) were killed in Indian strikes in Pakistan on May 7th. The strikes targeted nine terror sites in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. Among the dead were Mudassar Khadian Khas, a LeT leader, and Hafiz Muhammed Jameel, the brother of JeM founder Maulana Masood Azhar. Other notable casualties included Mohammad Yusuf Azhar, a brother-in-law of Masood Azhar, and Khalid alias Abu Akasha, a LeT operative. The Pakistani military and government officials were present at the funerals of the slain terrorists.
Seeking to wriggle out of the FATF's grey list, Pakistan has imposed tough financial sanctions on 88 banned terror groups and their leaders, including Hafiz Saeed, Masood Azhar and Dawood Ibrahim, by ordering the seizure of all of their properties and freezing of bank accounts, a media report said.
According to Pakistan's National Counter Terrorism Authority (NACTA) list, which was updated on Tuesday, JuD and FIF were among 70 organisations proscribed by the ministry of Interior under the Anti-Terrorism Act 1997.
Former Director General of Sikkim Police Avinash Mohananey interrogated Azhar many a times during his two-decade tenure in the Intelligence Bureau.
Earlier, China had extended the "technical hold" on India's move to get Azhar designated as a terrorist by the UN.
"The friendship between China and Pakistan appears to be very strong but the day is not far when China too gets affected by Pakistan-backed terrorism," Singh, who is in Gorakhpur to take part in a function at the Gorakhnath temple, told media persons on Monday night.
Pakistan and China have submitted a joint bid at the UN Security Council to designate the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) and its suicide wing - Majeed Brigade - as a terrorist entity under the Council's 1267 Al Qaeda Sanctions Committee.
The Bahawalpur centre is notorious for hoarding arms and ammunition left behind by the NATO forces in Afghanistan, the officials said.
In an interaction with naval warriors on board aircraft carrier INS Vikrant off Goa, Singh sent a stern warning to Islamabad saying India will not hesitate to use the methods to deal with terrorism that Pakistan cannot even think of.
A total of nine terror sites in Pakistan, including five in Pojk, linked to Lashkar-e-Taiba (Let) and Jaish-e-Mohammed (Jem), were targeted with meticulous planning to avoid civilian casualties.
The Chinese technical hold was set to lapse on Monday, and had China not raised further objection, the resolution designating Azhar as a terrorist could stand passed automatically. The hold has been extended for another six months.