Rauf Asghar, the brother of Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) chief Masood Azhar, organised, planned and executed the IC-814 hijacking in December 1999 that finally ended after the Vajpayee government agreed to release his brother Masood Azhar and two other major terrorists, India and the U.S. said in their joint proposal to the UN Security Council, that detailed a number of attacks Asghar masterminded, from the Parliament attack to Pulwama bombing.
Government sources said China’s hold came despite the fact that India and the U.S. had provided “incontrovertible evidence” against Rauf Asghar for the terror listing.
As co-sponsors, India and the U.S. had filed the proposal with the UNSC’s 1267 committee at the end of July under what is called a “no-objection” procedure. Officials said they hoped that the listing would go through without objections in the final meeting on August 10, given that Rauf Asghar is on both India and the U.S.’s own terror lists and he has also been convicted in Pakistan on terror-related charges.
