India hails U.N. blacklisting of Masood Azhar

Maulana Masood Azhar, head of Pakistan's militant Jaish-e-Mohammad party, attends a pro-Taliban conference organised by the Afghan Defence Council in Islamabad August 26, 2001. REUTERS/File Photo

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India on Wednesday hailed the U.N. Security Council's move to blacklist the head of a Pakistan-based militant group, and said it would continue trying to crack down on militant groups and their leaders through global forums.

"India will continue with its efforts through international forums to ensure that terrorist organizations and their leaders who cause harm to its citizens are brought to justice," the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

A U.N. Security Council committee blacklisted the head of the Pakistan-based militant group Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) on Wednesday after China dropped its objection to the move, ending a long diplomatic impasse.

JeM carried out a Feb. 14 attack in Kashmir that killed at least 40 Indian paramilitary police, making it the deadliest in the disputed region in a 30-year-old insurgency. The attack increased tensions between neighbours Pakistan and India, both nuclear-armed.

(Reporting by Sanjeev Miglani, Writing by Nidhi Verma; Editing by Kevin Liffey)