No one government can get credit for Azhar ban: Cong

Fearing the Modi government will take political mileage over Masood Azhar's designation as a global terrorist, the Congress on Thursday said that credit for the achievement should not go only to one establishment and that the plan was in the works for the past 15 years.

"The Indian government has consistently worked towards declaring Masood Azhar a global terrorist for 15 years. The credit for this doesn't belong to any one government. Documents provided by former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh have played a huge role in this matter," Congress spokesperson Rajeev Shukla said a day after the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) declared Azhar an "international terrorist".

The Congress took a dig at the Modi government for trying to take credit for the UNSC move and pointed out that the previous United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government too had many such success stories.

"The Modi government is eager to take credit for every achievement. Hafiz Saeed was declared a global terrorist during the UPA government. Terrorists Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, Haji Muhammad Ashraf were also declared as global terrorists during the Congress government," said Shukla.

The Congress said that Azhar was arrested during the previous Congress government, but it was a BJP government (NDA I) which got released him during the 1999 Kandahar plane hijack crisis. "But they don't talk about it today," said Shukla. IANS