China, a veto-wielding member of UN Security Council (UNSC), blocked the move to list Jaish-e-Mohammad chief Masood Azhar as a "global terrorist" on Wednesday.
After the Pulwama terror attack, three permanent members of the UNSC — the US, Britain and France — moved a resolution to name him a global terrorist. India has submitted proof to both Pakistan, where Azhar resides, and UNSC that points to the JeM chief being responsible for orchestrating the February 14 attack.
All five permanent member countries of the UNSC need to be in agreement for Pakistan-based Azhar to be labelled such. This is the third time UNSC is considering the request to put Azhar on UN sanctions black list.
The fate of the proposal to designate Pakistan-based Azhar as a global terrorist by the UNSC will be known in less than 24 hours when the deadline to raise objections to the bid expires.
US State Department Deputy Spokesperson Robert Palladino, while talking to reporters, said, "JeM is a United Nations-designated terrorist group. Azhar is the founder and the leader of JeM, and he meets the criteria for designation by the United Nations. JeM has been responsible for numerous terrorist attacks and is a threat to regional stability and peace."
A UNSC designation of "global terrorist" for Azhar will mean freezing his assets, a travel ban and an arms embargo. USA had asked China not to block Azhar from being listed as a global terrorist.
"The United States and China share a mutual interest in achieving regional stability and peace, and that a failure to designate Azhar would run counter to this goal," Palladino said.
It could be noted that China, which is one of the five veto-wielding members of UNSC and also an all-weather ally of Pakistan, had blocked India's efforts in the past to list Azhar as a global terrorist.
Meanwhile, China Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lu Kang said, "Only a solution acceptable to all sides is conducive due to the solution of the issue".
"The listing must follow all rules and procedures of the United Nations," he said.
"I could reiterate that China will continue to adopt responsible attitude and participate in the deliberations in the UNSC 1267 Committee," Lu told reporters in Beijing. Asked to clarify whether the issue has been listed for discussion for March 13 and China is in talks with all the parties concerned, Lu said, "First I want to clarify that I don't recall saying anything about the deadline about the UNSC committee and other UN subsidiary bodies".
In the aftermath of the Pulwama terror attack, three permanent members of the UNSC – the US, Britain and France – moved a resolution to designate Azhar as a global terrorist under the 1267 Al Qaeda Sanctions Committee of the UNSC. Russia has also been backing the move.
Recently, China's Vice Foreign Minister Kong Xuanyou travelled to Pakistan and held talks with Prime Minister Imran Khan and Army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa and other officials.
India had, on March 9, said that all UNSC members were aware about the JeM training camps and the presence of Azhar in Pakistan, and had urged them to designate him as a global terrorist.
—With PTI inputs
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