Pakistan’s close friend China, for the 4th time, has put the bid on hold to designate the Jaish-e-Mohammad Chief – Masood Azhar as a global terrorist.
The proposal to designate Masood Azhar under the 1267 Al Qaeda Sanctions Committee of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) was moved by France, United States (U.S.) and United Kingdom (U.K.), after the heinous terror attack in Pulwama which killed more than 40 Central Reserve Police Forces (CRPF) personnel. Australia, Bangladesh, Germany, Poland, Italy, Japan and Belgium were among the cosponsors of the proposal.
China’s decision came an hour before the expiry of the deadline to respond to the proposal of banning Masood Azhar. The hold can last upto 9 months, after which China can use its veto power to formally block, or terminate, the proposal. Besides, China had blocked the same proposal in the year 2011, 2016 and 2017.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesman – Lu Kang said, “I could reiterate that China will continue to adopt responsible attitude and participate in the deliberations in the UNSC 1267 Committee.”
The Indian Government had thanked the other Member States who moved the proposal.
The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said in a statement, “All available avenues to ensure that terrorist leaders who are involved in heinous attacks on our citizens are brought to justice.”
The Statement from MEA
The ISIL (Da’esh) and Al-Qaida Sanctions Committee (1267 Sanctions Committee), upon completion of the no-objection period on 13 March 2019, was not able to come to a decision on the proposal for listing Mohammed Masood Azhar Alvi under the UN Sanctions regime, on account of a member placing the proposal on hold.
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.
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.
