DNA Edit: Chinese checkers – Beijing’s double game on Jaish is craftily played

Just what is China’s game in the Pulwama suicide attack? As ever, Beijing’s hand in this terror outrage in Kashmir is cloaked in ambiguity — running with the hare and hunting with the hound. A day after China officially expressed its ‘shock’ over Pulwama, the country’s State Councillor and Foreign Minister sent a condolence message to Sushma Swaraj, predictably  denouncing “all forms of terrorism”. The Foreign Minister added, for good effect, that he was “shocked to learn that a suicide attack was carried out in Kashmir and heavy casualties caused.”  While China has chosen to be politically correct in most terror outrages in India, in the Pulwama incident, its name is likely to be dragged in because of the admission of Pakistan-based terrorist group, Jaish-e-Mohammed, hours after the attack, claiming credit for the hit. 

China has long been the protector of Jaish chief Maulana Masood Azhar by using its veto powers to block India’s bid to designate the jehadi as a global terrorist by the United Nations Security Council (UNSC). By providing protection to the Maulana, China has indirectly acquiesced in backing terror against India, never mind the reams of official statements condemning terror, which its foreign office frequently mouths. Its stand in the Masood Azhar case is understandably the same as its all-weather friend Pakistan. Islamabad too believes that despite India’s rant and accusations, there is no criminal case against Azhar. 

China’s foreign office said as much when they refused to be drawn into any debate over Azhar’s status at the UNSC on Saturday. Much as India may want Azhar’s head today, it would be instructive to remember that the terrorist was in Indian custody for close to five years in the mid-1990s, housed in the Jammu jail. He was arrested by a vigilant Indian Army picket in 1994 while travelling to Srinagar, after having entered the border by crossing the LoC illegally. Azhar’s importance can be gauged from the fact that a year later, five tourists were kidnapped in the Kashmir Valley, in return for him. While one body was found, no one ever heard of the other four who went missing in 1995. Four years later came the hijacking of the Indian Airlines Flight IC 814. The hijacking episode was commandeered by Azhar’s brother and the Maulana was released in exchange of the passengers who were held hostage at the Kabul airport. India has never quite been able to live down this sordid episode. 

But China, whose policy since the 1960s has been to box-in India with Pakistan in South Asia to keep it under check, has even refused to listen to New Delhi’s plea on Azhar’s link with the hijacking of the IA aircraft. That, according to Beijing, does not constitute ample grounds for branding him as a terrorist! So steadfast has Beijing been in support of Masood that it has even opposed US attempts to get him banned by the UN in 2017.