India furious as China blocks UN blacklisting of JeM chief Masood Azhar

Kashmir-based group Jaish-e-Mohammad group has already been blacklisted by 15-nation Security Council


Reuters April 02, 2016
Maulana Masood Azhar, head of Jaish-e-Mohammad, in Islamabad on August 26, 2001. PHOTO: REUTERS

UNITED NATIONS: China has put a hold on India's request to add the head of Jaish-e-Mohammad group to the United Nations' al Qaeda-Islamic State blacklist, UN diplomats said on Friday, eliciting an angry reaction from the Indian government.

India accused Jaish-e-Mohammad of masterminding a fatal attack on the Pathankot air base in India in January. India had requested that its leader be added to a UN Security Council blacklist of groups linked to al Qaeda or Islamic State, the diplomats said, but China objected.

China again blocks India's move at UN to ban JeM chief Masood Azhar

The Kashmir-based group Jaish-e-Mohammad has already been blacklisted by the 15-nation Security Council, but not its leader, Maulana Masood Azhar, a hardliner and long-time foe of India.

"We find it incomprehensible that while the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad was listed ... as far back as 2001 for its well-known terror activities and links to al Qaeda, the designation of the group's main leader, financier and motivator, has been put on a technical hold," Indian government spokesperson Vikas Swarup said in Washington.

"This does not reflect well on the determination that the international community needs to display to decisively defeat the menace of terrorism," he told reporters on the sidelines of a nuclear summit in the US capital.

US, India agree to stave off Lashkar, Jaish threat

It was not immediately clear why China requested that a hold be placed on the Indian request to blacklist Masood Azhar. Technical holds can be lifted and often arise when a Security Council member wants more information. But sometimes they lead to a permanent blocking of a proposed blacklisting.

Asked about China's decision to place a technical hold on the proposed blacklisting of Masood Azhar, Chinese UN Ambassador Liu Jieyi offered no details. "Any listing would have to meet the requirements" for blacklisting, he said.

Pakistani security officials have said that a special investigation team set up in Pakistan to probe the Pathankot attack found no evidence implicating Masood Azhar.

If Masood Azhar was blacklisted by the UN Security Council, he would face a global travel ban and asset freeze.

Jaish-e-Mohammad seminaries shut down across Punjab: Rana Sanaullah

The January 2 attack at Pathankot was followed by a raid on an Indian consulate in Afghanistan that has also been linked to Jaish-e-Mohammad, or the Army of Mohammad.

Jaish-e-Mohammad militants are blamed for a 2001 attack on India's parliament that nearly led to a war between the nuclear-armed rivals.

COMMENTS (15)

Feroz | 8 years ago | Reply If any one can look at this development as a victory, it simply shows a stunted human mind. It is Pakistan which is losing innocent citizens to these terrorists in far larger numbers than India or China. Why should anyone celebrate a country that insists on keeping its terror assets, without least caring about the number of citizens falling victim. Only a warped minds will find a victory in this scenario.
Indian Kashmiri | 8 years ago | Reply I am not worried if China supports Pakistan for economic growth and their friendship is not a problem for anyone...The problem is when you breach morality and stop distinguishing between good and bad decisions....It is unfortunate that some people have lost clarity of thought to distinguish between this poor decision by Chinese which actually will do more bad in the long run as it is cementing wrong ideologies in peoples psyches that support wrong ideologies is fine.
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