India, on Thursday, asked Pakistan to freeze financial assets, impose a travel ban and enforce an arms embargo on JeM chief Masood Azhar, now that he has been designated as a global terrorist by the 1267 Sanctions Committee of the UN Security Council.

Pakistan was required to take action against the JeM leader as demanded by the international community. The 1267 Sanctions Committee was also mandated to oversee the actions taken by Pakistan after Wednesday’s black-listing of Azhar, External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said at a media briefing. India, he said, would continue to demand that Pakistan take credible and verifiable action against terrorism emanating from its soil.

On Pakistan drawing comfort from the fact that Azhar’s listing had been delinked from the Pulwama terror attack, the spokesperson said: “Frankly, Pakistan has no choice…it can’t welcome the decision or criticise it. So, the only option it had was to pick up some holes in the notification of the Sanction Committee.” He observed that the notification was not supposed to be the bio-data of a terrorist. He also stated that the Pulwama attack did play a role in the Sanctions Committee arriving at a decision to ban the JeM leader.

Asked if India had struck any deal with China before Beijing agreed to lift its technical hold on the listing of Azhar, the spokesperson asserted that India never negotiated with any country on terrorism and matters related to the country’s security.

India, he said, had shared hard evidence with all members of the UNSC about the terror activities of the JeM. “The designation is not based on any specific incident but on the basis of evidence shared with UNSC members linking the JeM chief with various acts of terrorism.”

On whether China’s decision to lift the technical hold would enhance the spirit generated by the informal summit between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping at Wuhan in April last year, the spokesperson said India has welcomed Beijing’s decision and was looking forward to another such informal summit due to take place in India later this year.