Hold on Azhar already extended: China

October 01, 2016 09:00 pm | Updated November 01, 2016 10:17 pm IST - BEIJING:

The hold has been extended for another six months.

China on Saturday said its technical hold on India’s move to get 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 PTI here.

Many views on India’s application?

“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,” Mr. Geng said.

On March 31 this year, China, a veto-wielding permanent member of the U.N. Security Council, had blocked India’s move to put a ban on the JeM leader and Pathankot attack mastermind under the Sanctions Committee of the Council.

China, only stumbling block

China was the only member in the 15-nation U.N. 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.

Mr. 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.

Shadow on Sino-India ties

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.

Blocking India’s ban pleas

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 (LeT) 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 United States, the United Kingdom and France had “co-sponsored” the resolution seeking Azhar’s listing.

India has slammed UNSC

India has repeatedly slammed the UNSC 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 lambasted the UNSC 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. India had made a strong call for reform of the “subterranean universe” of the UNSC’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.

In April, India had said it finds it “incomprehensible” that while the 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.

Dossier submitted

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 U.S., the U.K. 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.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.