India on Friday demanded that Pakistan act against terrorist Masood Azhar, chief of banned terrorism group Jaish-e-Mohammed and the mastermind behind terror strikes like the 2011 Parliament attack.

The strong statement followed reports of a public speech by Azhar – his first in 21 years – at an Islamic seminary in Bahawalpur in Pakistan’s Punjab province, in which he reportedly vowed to continue attacks on India and used a derogatory word for Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Referring to reports of Azhar’s speech, External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal, at a scheduled press briefing, also pointed out that it, if true, “had exposed Pakistan’s duplicity” in containing terrorist outfits and terrorists operating from its soil to launch cross-border attacks.

“Masood Azhar is involved in cross-border terror attacks in India. We demand strong action be taken against him, so he is brought to justice. There has been a denial that he is not there in Pakistan… but, if the reports are correct, then it exposes the duplicity of Pakistan,” Mr Jaiswal told reporters.

In his outrageous speech Azhar reportedly also called Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a “mouse”, and declared his intention to step up terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir.

The speech was reportedly delivered sometime in November.

Azhar is among India’s most-wanted terrorists.

In September 2019 India branded Azhar and another Pak-based terrorist, Lashkar-e-Taiba founder Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, as ‘individual terrorists’ under the stringent anti-terror law UAPA.

READ | Masood Azhar Branded A Terrorist Under New Anti-Terror Law

Apart from the attack on Parliament in 2001, in which two security personnel were killed, he is also linked to strike on Central Reserve Police Force personnel in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pulwama in 2019.

He also orchestrated an attack on the Indian consulate in Afghanistan’s Mazar-e-Sharif in 2016.

In August 2020, after more than a year of demanding Pak admit its responsibility for the Pulwama terror attack, the Indian government slammed its neighbour for continuing to shelter Azhar.

READ | India Slams Pak For Evading “Responsibility” For Pulwama Terror Attack

Anurag Srivastava, then the MEA spokesperson, had said, “Jaish-e- Mohammed claimed responsibility for the Pulwama attack. The organisation and its leadership are in Pakistan and it is regrettable Masood Azhar, the first accused, continues to find shelter in that country.”

In January of this year, social media posts – apparently from Pakistan-based users – declared that Masood Azhar had died in a bomb blast while returning from a mosque.

READ | Is India’s Most Wanted Terrorist Masood Azhar Dead? A Fact-Check

A fact-check, however, confirmed the news as fake. The photo of the blast that allegedly killed Azhar was found to have first been posted five years ago in an unrelated explosion.

Concerned about the deteriorating situation in Syria, the Government of India put out a late-night advisory to all Indian nationals to completely “avoid all travel to Syria until further notice”.

In the statement, which shared an emergency helpline number and an email ID, the Ministry of External Affairs appealed to all Indians currently in Syria to “remain in touch with the Indian Embassy in Damascus”.

New Delhi’s urgent notification also stated that “Those who can, are advised to leave (Syria) by the earliest available commercial flights.” For those who cannot, the advisory asked them to “observe utmost precaution about their safety and restrict their movements to the minimum.”

The emergency helpline number shared is for the Indian Embassy in Damascus. It is +963 993385973. This number can also be used on WhatsApp the statement read, adding an emergency email ID as well – which is hoc.damascus@mea.gov.in. Updates shall be shared once the staff is contacted, the advisory stated.

Travel advisory for Syria:https://t.co/bOnSP3tS03 pic.twitter.com/zg1AH7n6RB

— Randhir Jaiswal (@MEAIndia) December 6, 2024

WHAT IS HAPPENING IN SYRIA – AND HOW BAD IS THE SITUATION

Syria is in the midst of a political turmoil, with the Russia and Iran-backed Bashar Al-Assad regime finding itself surrounded by rebel groups and militias which are backed by Turkey. Rebel forces have, over the last week, pressed a lightning offensive across Syria aiming to overthrow President Bashar al-Assad.

The Islamist-led rebels were at the gates of Syria’s Homs, a war monitor told news agency AFP. Several other Syrian cities have fallen out of government control – some without even a bullet having to be fired.

The offensive by the Islamist rebels have been so swift, that Syria’s second city Aleppo and strategically located Hama have already fallen from President Bashar al-Assad’s control. This has happened for the first time since the civil war began in 2011.

Bashar al-Assad’s clan has ruled Syria for the past five decades, but for the first time ever, it has looked truly vulnerable to a total collapse. Should the rebels capture Homs, it would cut the seat of power in the capital Damascus from the Mediterranean coast, a key bastion of Bashar Assad.

According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor, by Friday morning (local time), the Islamist rebels were less than five kilometres from the edge of Homs.

WHO IS BEHIND THIS – AND WHAT IS HIS PAST

Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, the leader of the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham or HTS rebel alliance, has categorically said that the goal of this offensive is to overthrow Bashar al-Assad and end his rule in Syria.

“When we talk about objectives, the goal of the revolution remains the overthrow of this regime. It is our right to use all available means to achieve that goal,” Jolani told CNN in an interview.

The Islamist rebel alliance conducting the offensive that began on November 27 is led by HTS, which stems from the Syrian branch of the Al Qaeda, but has sought to moderate its image in recent times.

Abu Mohammed al-Jolani is also known as the ‘blue-eyed boy’ of ISIS terrorist Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. Several years ago, he was kept at the infamous US detention facility in Iraq. But al-Jolani, once written-off as a lost cause by the US, has emerged from the shadows. He now finds himself as a power figure in Syria.

Interestingly, the Islamist rebels launched their offensive in Syria the same day a ceasefire took effect in the war between Israel and Lebanese Hezbollah, which along with Russia and Iran have been firm backers of the Bashar al-Assad government.

SYRIA’S FATE HANGS IN THE BALANCE

Turkey, which has extended its full support to the rebels, said on Friday that its Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan shall be meeting his Russian and Iranian counterparts this weekend in Qatar for an emergency discussion on the situation in Syria.

Meanwhile, the political wing of the HTS-led rebel coalition has reportedly reached out to Russia and China to support them in their “struggle for liberation” from the decades-old Syrian regime headed by Bashar al-Assad. They have reportedly informed Moscow and Beijing that they would like to officially establish diplomatic ties with both countries.

The foreign ministers of Iran, Iraq, and Syria also met on Friday in Baghdad to discuss the goings-on in Syria.

Russia, which is heavily invested in the war in Ukraine, has not yet revealed how it is reading this situation and what its next step will be, but Moscow has hinted for providing limited support to the Bashar Assad regime to defend itself against the rebels.
 

Two prominent British Indian figures, Rami Ranger and Anil Bhanot, have been stripped of their CBE and OBE honors respectively. Both denounce the move as an attack on free speech, citing complaints related to their public statements.