India on Friday said it will continue to engage with China on discussions with regard to blocking of international terrorists like Masood Azhar by the United Nations. A day after China repeated its ‘technical hold' over the sanctioning of Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) chief Azhar, at the United Nations 1267 sanctioning committee meeting, Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said the latest decision by Beijing will not impact India's own resolve and fight against terror.
“I think the decision by a country to block a consensus should not be seen as an end to our counter-terrorism efforts. What is important is that it does not, in any way, take away our resolve to fight terrorism. It will not impact our resolve to fight terror,” MEA spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said. He added that India will continue to work with like-minded countries to fight terrorism and will also continue to engage with China to convince it. The spokesperson said India has been taking up this issue with the Chinese at the highest level.
China on Thursday for the fourth time blocked the effort by 14 countries to list Pathankot terror attack mastermind Azhar as a global terrorist by the UN, saying “there is no consensus” within the members of the sanctions committee. A veto-wielding permanent member of the Security Council, China has repeatedly blocked India, the US and other nations' bid to put a ban on the JeM chief under the Al-Qaeda Sanctions Committee 1267 of the Council.
India had expressed its disappointment saying double standards and selective approaches will only undermine the international community's resolve to combat terrorist. “We can only hope that there will be a realisation that accommodating with terrorism for narrow objectives is both short sighted and counter-productive,” MEA spokesperson said on Thursday.