As China blocked India’s bid for a UN blacklisting of Masood Azhar, chief of the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) and mastermind of the Pathankot terror attack, New Delhi has promptly slammed the move as “incomprehensible” that smacks of a “selective approach to combating terrorism”.
Without naming China as such, India put out a strongly-worded statement, expressing its disappointment that a “technical hold” has been put on India’s application at the UN Security Council Committee to sanction Azhar while the JeM that he heads was blacklisted as far back as 2001.
The Chinese action came just a day before Prime Minister Narendra Modi had lamented this very state-of-affairs in the presence of
world leaders, including Chinese President Xi Jinping, as to how terrorists are globally networked, but nations are still not giving up the belief that “his terrorist is not my terrorist”.
The issue of Chinese action came up a news briefing by External Affairs Ministry spokesman Vikas Swarup on the sidelines of the Nuclear Security Summit in Washington on Friday.
The statement that was subsequently put out by the MEA sought to highlight the point that the Pathankot terror attack on January 2 “has shown that India continues to bear the dangerous consequences of not listing Masood Azhar”.
“Given the global networking of terrorist groups, this has implications for the entire international community,” the Indian statement said, stressing: “This does not reflect well on the determination that the international community needs to display to decisively defeat the menace of terrorism.”
Recalling how JeM was sanctioned back in 2001 for its well-known terror activities and links to the Al Qaeda, the statement regretted how the designation of the group’s main leader, financier and motivator has been put on a technical hold.
“It needs no emphasis that the UNSCR 1267 regime is an important building block of the UN global counter terrorism strategy that should aim to protect all member states and their citizens from the activities of terror groups such as JeM and its leader Mohamad Masood Azhar,” the Indian statement noted, adding, “It’s working methods, based on the principles of unanimity and anonymity, is leading the Committee to adopt a selective approach to combating terrorism.”
The sanctions committee, which includes all 15 Security Council members, decides on additions to the blacklist by consensus. As such the “technical hold” by one permanent member, namely China in this case, has thwarted the move to sanction Azhar.
Defending the action, China’s Permanent Representative to the UN liu Jieyi claimed Azhar did not qualify to be nailed as a “terrorist” to face UN sanctions, saying his case “did not meet” the Security Council’s requirements. He, however, did not elaborate.
“Any listing would have to meet the necessary requirements,” liu said, adding: “It is the responsibility of all members of the council to make sure that these requirements are followed.”
It is not the first time that China has acted in this fashion in support of Pakistan. last June, it had blocked India’s move in the UN demanding action against Pakistan over release of Mumbai attack mastermind and leT commander Zakiur Rehman lakhvi, arguing that New Delhi had provided insufficient information.