more-inEmphasising the need to designate Pakistani terror mastermind Masood Azhar as a global terrorist under the 1267 counter-terror committee of the UN Security Council, France on Thursday sought international consensus on countering cross-border terrorism. In a written interview to The Hindu, Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said France and India are successfully cooperating in areas like counter-terrorism and defence and highlighted France’s territorial interests in the Indian Ocean region. “It is deeply regrettable that we could not reach a consensus on such an obvious request for designation,” Mr. Le Drian stated, arguing that as the leader of the banned group Jaish-e-Mohammed, Mr. Azhar too should be designated a global terrorist. Le Drian will meet with his counterpart, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley during his visit.

Source: The Hindu November 16, 2017 20:03 UTC