Beijing on Saturday blocked India’s bid to get Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad chief Masood Azhar listed as a terrorist by the United Nations for the second time. It said that its technical hold has been “been extended”, two days before its expiry. The Chinese technical hold was set to expire on Monday has now been extended for another three months.
Had the hold not been extended and expired on Monday it would have cleared the way to take forward the process to list Azhar as a Global terrorist. He is accused in the Parliament terror attack case and, more recently, in Pathankot attack .
Even though there has been no official response from New Delhi, but Indian Express has revealed that this would be one of the major talking points between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping in mid-October, when they meet on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in Goa.
China’s foreign ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang said in Beijing, “The technical hold on India’s listing application submitted to the 1267 Committee in March 2016 has already been extended… 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.”
Earlier on March 31 this year, China had blocked India’s move to put a ban on Azhar, under the sanctions committee of the council and it was the only member in the 15-nation council to put a hold on India’s application as all others supported New Delhi’s bid to place Azhar on the 1267 sanctions list that would subject him to an assets freeze and travel ban.
The issue has been going on at least since 2009, when China and the UK put technical hold on the listing.
