China Blocks Move On Blocking Masood Azhar, Again

China, for the fourth time, blocked an initiative to tag Jaish-e Mohammad chief Masood Azhar as a “global terrorist” by the United Nations Security Council on Wednesday.

China’s objection, made on technical grounds, came an hour before the deadline, after which the resolution to tag him a “global terrorist” would have been considered adopted by the UN Security Council.

“The 1267 Sanctions Committee, upon completion of the no-objection period on 13 March 2019, wasn’t able to come to a decision on the proposal for listing Mohammed Masood Azhar under the UN Sanctions regime, on account of a member placing the proposal on hold,” the Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement.

“We are disappointed by this outcome. This has prevented action by the international community to designate the leader of Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), a proscribed and active terrorist organization which has claimed responsibility for the terrorist attack in Jammu and Kashmir on 14 February 2019,” the ministry said.

The MEA further added, “We are grateful for the efforts of the Member States who moved the designation proposal and the unprecedented number of all other Security Council members as well as non-members who joined as co-sponsors. We will continue to pursue all available avenues to ensure that terrorist leaders who are involved in heinous attacks on our citizens are brought to justice.”

The proposal to designate Masood Azhar under the 1267 Al Qaeda Sanctions Committee of the UN Security Council was moved by France, UK and the US on February 27.

The Al Qaeda Sanctions Committee members had 10 working days to raise any objections to the proposal moved by France, the UK and the US. The no-objection period deadline had to end 3 pm local time (New York) Wednesday (12:30am IST Thursday).

The UN had banned the Jaish-e Mohammad in 2001. But India’s efforts to ban Masood Azhar after the Mumbai terror attack was not successful as China has repeatedly blocked the move.