This is the second time China has stalled the India-US listing proposal at the UNSC in two months
This is the second time China has stalled the India-US listing proposal at the UNSC in two months
China on Thursday foiled a joint Indo-US effort to list Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed deputy chief Rauf Asghar as a UN Security Council-designated terrorist, sources said. Hindu, Asghar, brother Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar, is accused of masterminding several terror attacks ranging from the IC-814 hijacking in 1999 and the Parliament attack in 2001 to attacks on security force personnel in Pathankot, Pulwama and other places in Jammu and Kashmir. Asghar was arrested by Pakistani authorities in 2019 on more minor terror financing charges, but it is unclear where he is currently.
In its decision to put the proposal on the 1267 UNSC terrorist designation list on Rauf Asghar, also known as Abdul Rauf Azhar Alvi, the Chinese mission to the United Nations said it would take “more time” to study the proposal. needed, and now it’s six months. make a decision. This is the second time China has stalled an India-US listing proposal at the UNSC in two months, and comes after China put a similar hold on the list. Abdur Rahman MakkiDeputy chief of Lashkar-e-Taiba/Jamaat-ud-Dawa (LeT/JuD).
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China’s decision is likely to further strain relations between New Delhi and Beijing, which have been in a military standoff along the Line of Actual Control since April 2020, and comes despite some signs of a diplomatic thaw, After External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar’s meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi On the sidelines of the G20 meeting in Bali, and Chinese Special Envoy on Afghan Affairs Yu Xiaoong last week traveled to Delhi for talks with his Indian counterpart JP Singh. Government officials were hopeful of a change in the Chinese situation after 2019, when China withdrew objections to the listing of Jaish chief Masood Azhar, who was freed in exchange for hostages in the IC-814 hijacking. Makki’s hold on the UNSC terrorist list, after Asghar indicates otherwise. The 1267 UN listing mandates members to ensure that designated terrorists and organizations are not allowed to travel and resort to money or weapons. However, a permanent member of the UNSC may withhold any listing for a period of up to 6 months, followed by an extension of 6 months, after which it must either accept or decline the listing.
The Foreign Ministry is yet to confirm or comment on the Chinese decision to halt the listing of Rauf Asghar at the UNSC. UN Permanent Representative Ambassador Ruchira Kamboj expressed India’s dismay over similar decisions by China in the past, saying on Tuesday that “the practice of barring and blocking listing requests without giving any justification must end. It is regrettable that genuine and evidence-based listing offers relating to some of the world’s most notorious terrorists are being withheld.” Ms Kamboj said that “Double standards and constant politicization” This process had reduced the credibility of the sanctions regime to the “lowest level ever”.