The persistent efforts of India, with the express support of France, the U.K. and the U.S., and the acquiescence of China, culminated in the designation of Masood Azhar as a global terrorist by the UN Security Council. This has come as a breather at a time of dwindling faith in international law and related institutions.
The UNSC said: “Masood Azhar was listed on 1 May 2019... as being associated with Al-Qaida for ‘participating in the financing, planning, facilitating, preparing, or perpetrating of acts or activities by, in conjunction with, under the name of, on behalf of, or in support of’, ‘supplying, selling or transferring arms and related material to’, ‘recruiting for’, ‘otherwise supporting acts or activities of’, and ‘other acts or activities indicating association with’ Jaish-i-Mohammed [JeM].” The UNSC recognised that Azhar founded the JeM upon his release from prison in India in exchange for 155 hostages held on an Indian Airlines airplane that had been hijacked to Kandahar. It said that he has been found to be financially supporting the JeM since its inception. However, it made no mention of his role in any of the attacks against India, including the recent one in Pulwama, which was mentioned in the original proposal.
The immediate impact of the listing would subject Azhar to an assets freeze, travel ban, and an arms embargo. Assets freeze means that all states are required to freeze without delay the funds and other financial assets or economic resources of designated individuals and entities. By virtue of the arms embargo, all nations are required to prevent the direct or indirect supply, sale and transfer from their territories or by their nationals outside their territories of arms and related material of all types to designated individuals and entities. This resolution is expected to have a long-term impact and is likely to have a preventive and deterrent effect on terrorist activities globally, and particularly in South Asia.
While this is a big diplomatic win for India, showcasing this as only an individual accomplishment is a parochial and imprudent approach. A nuanced analysis of international diplomacy shows that India’s foreign policy decisions depict more of a continuity than a change. Any indulgence in whataboutery for petty political gains will clearly harm all political players. Facts affirm that compromises are often made in international negotiations. Diplomacy can neither be critiqued in rallies, nor steered by shrill mass media debates. It is important to appreciate that any form of demagoguery aimed at appropriating the result of a hard-won battle against terrorism will only arrest its enduring potential and diminish the real value of this extraordinary feat.
Anmolam runs a non-profit organisation called BDLAAAW, and Farheen Ahmad is a research scholar who is pursuing his Ph.D. in international law from South Asian University, New Delhi
