[Following the decision, the hold now has
been extended in the midst of India-Pakistan tension over the Uri terrorist
attack, which was blamed on the JeM group.]
By: PTI Beijing
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Jaish-e-Mohammad
chief Maulana Masood Azhar
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China on Saturday said its technical hold on
India’s move to get Pakistan-based JeM chief Masood Azhar designated a
terrorist by the United Nations has “been extended”, days before the expiry of
the hold. The Chinese technical hold was set to lapse on Monday, and had China
not raised further objection, the resolution designating Azhar as a terrorist
could stand passed automatically. The hold has been extended for another six
months.
“The technical hold on India’s listing
application submitted to the 1267 committee in March, 2016 has already been
extended,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told reporters.
“There are still different views on India’s
listing application. The extended technical hold on it will allow more time for
the Committee to deliberate on the matter and for relevant parties to have
further consultations,” Geng said
On March 31 this year, China, a veto-wielding
permanent member of the UN Security Council, had blocked India’s move to put a
ban on the Jaish-e-Mohammed leader and Pathankot attack mastermind under the
Sanctions Committee of the Council.
China was the only member in the 15-nation UN
organ to put a hold on India’s application with all other 14 members of the
Council supporting New Delhi’s bid to place Azhar on the 1267 sanctions list
that would subject him to an assets freeze and travel ban.
Geng said the 1267 Committee of the UNSC
“organises its work as mandated by relevant resolutions of the Security
Council.”
“China always maintains that on the listing
matter, the 1267 Committee should stick to the main principles of objectivity,
impartiality and professionalism, base its judgments on solid evidence and
decide upon consensus among the members of the Security Council,” he said in a
written reply to a question.
Following the decision, the hold now has been
extended in the midst of India-Pakistan tension over the Uri terrorist attack,
which was blamed on the JeM group.
China’s technical hold coupled with its move
to block India’s membership of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) cast a shadow
on the Sino-India ties. Both the countries have held several rounds of talks on
the issues in recent months. China’s move to extend the technical hold comes
ahead of the expected meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese
President Xi Jinping in Goa during the BRICS Summit on October 15-16.
In June last year, China had blocked India’s
demand for taking action under the Council’s anti-terrorism resolutions against
Pakistan for releasing Lashkar-e-Taiba commander Zaki-ur-Lakhvi – the
mastermind of the 2008 Mumbai attacks.
Sources have previously said India is not
alone in its bid to get Azhar listed as terrorist as the US, the UK and France
had “co-sponsored” the resolution seeking Azhar’s listing.
India has repeatedly slammed the UN Sanctions
Committee for its failure to designate terrorists, saying that the terror
groups are proscribed entities under the Sanctions regime but individuals
heading them are not listed.
India has slammed the UN sanctions committee
for taking a “selective approach” in tackling terrorism when the technical hold
was put on its application to include Azhar’s name on the committee’s list of
designated terrorists.
In April, India had said it finds it
“incomprehensible” that while the Pakistan-based JeM was listed in the UNSC
Committee as far back as 2001 for its known terror activities and links to the
al-Qaeda, the designation of the group’s main leader, financier and motivator
has been put on a technical hold.
India had submitted a detailed dossier on
Azhar and moved the UNSC 1267 Committee following the January 2 attack on an
Indian airforce station in Pathankot.
In March, India’s submission was considered
by the Counter-Terrorism Executive Directorate for technical aspects of the
evidence provided. The technical team then with the support of the US, the UK
and France had sent it to all the members.
All were told that if there were no
objections, the designation will be announced after the expiry of the deadline.
However, hours before the deadline, China requested the committee to hold up
the banning of the JeM chief.
India had said the sanctions committee was
taking a “selective approach” in tackling terrorism. India had made a strong
call for reform of the “subterranean universe” of the UN Security Council’s
sanctions regimes, as it criticised the lack of transparency in their
functioning and said that the principles of “anonymity and unanimity” adopted
by Council members absolve individual members of accountability.
