India will show patience with China for “as long as it takes”, sources have said, three days after Beijing placed a hold at the United Nations (UN) on the listing of Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar as a global terrorist. This is the fourth time in a decade that China has blocked efforts at the UN to go after Masood Azhar’s assets.
Sources say there are issues China has to resolve with Pakistan on this matter and that India is “cautiously confident” that eventually, Masood Azhar will get listed.
Sources say that 14 of the 15 members of the UN Security Council (UNSC) have supported India on this issue and that seven UNSC members also co-sponsored the resolution on Masood Azhar.
The hold by China means the resolution will now be taken up in six months at the UN.
India will also give all members of the Security Council more information on Masood Azhar to pursue this.
New Delhi is also lobbying hard with members of the global watchdog on terror financing – the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) – to show how Pakistan is not complying with orders to crack down on terror groups. Steps taken by Pakistan in the last few days, against terror groups are cosmetic in nature, sources said.
The foreign ministry, in a statement, had said India was “disappointed” with China’s move and vowed to continue to pursue “all available avenues to ensure that terrorist leaders who are involved in heinous attacks on our citizens” are brought to justice.
A UN blacklisting will subject Masood Azhar to assets freeze, travel ban and an arms embargo. An assets freeze under the Sanctions Committee requires that all states freeze without delay the funds and other financial assets or economic resources of designated individuals and entities.
The last time China, a veto-wielding member of the UN Security Council, blocked the move was in April 2016, months after the Jaish attack on the Pathankot air base. Registering a strong protest at the time, India said saying such a move, made only on “technical grounds,” was “incomprehensible”.
