Last week the US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo minced no words in rebuking China for its duplicity on Muslims. “On one hand, China abuses more than a million Muslims at home, but, on the other, it protects violent Islamic terrorist groups from sanctions at the United Nations.” Pompeo was speaking in the context of the Chinese veto in the UN Security Council Sanctions Committee against listing Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar as a global terrorist.
By now the world knows the terror and repression let loose by the Chinese authorities against Uighurs, an ethnic Muslim minority in the north-western region of Xinjiang region. Millions have been forced into detention camps, euphemistically called ‘political re-education centers.’ So rampant is the fear and abuse that tens of thousands have been kept under illegal detention in their homes.
Several have fled the region; several killed while escaping terror. Forcible settlement of majority Han Chinese in Uighur-dominated region is an ongoing project. The Chinese authorities routinely demonize the minority group for harboring Islamist jihadis. Yet, it does not prevent China to come to the rescue of the proven Islamist jihadi groups based out of Pakistan which periodically perpetrate terrorist acts against India.
It has repeatedly vetoed the move by the UNSC Sanctions Committee to list Azhar, the founder of the Jaish-e-Mohammad, as a global terrorist. Such a move would prevent his movement outside Pakistan, impose restrictions on fund-collections by the JeM and bar Mohammad from participation in official and semi-official activities of the national and provincial governments.
The latest hold-out against sanctioning Azhar came last month in the wake of the Pulwana attack on the CRPF convoy which left 50 personnel dead. While Pakistan refuses to acknowledge any evidence of the JeM involvement in the attack, its global patron comes to its rescue in the UN and other international forums, stonewalling any attempt to blacklist Azahar and his terrorist outfit.
After Pulwama when all major nations took the lead to revive the move yet another time to sanction Azhar, China refused to see reason. That is why the US has now proposed to directly move the UNSC for blacklisting the JeM founder. He was accused in 2001 of aiding the al-Qaeda chief, the late Osama bin Laden, of raising funds and using them for perpetrating terrorist acts.
Worse, while the official Pakistan line is to deny any link between JeM and Azhar on the one side and the terrorist attack on the other, Azhar himself is bold and brazen enough to own up responsibility for such barbaric deeds. For instance, within minutes of the Pulwama attack, the JeM claimed responsibility for it. Fed up with the repeated Chinese veto on Azhar, the US, which has the support of the other three permanent members, has again moved the UNSC to try and convince it not to defend a global terror ringmaster.
The Chinese position on Azhar seems particularly quixotic given that it is party to the decision to put Pakistan on a ‘grey list’ in the Financial Action Task Force which keeps track of global terror funding. Such categorisation can make it further difficult for it to source international funds to rescue its economy from a severe resource crunch. Reports suggest that in case the US move in the UNSC fails to get China on board, it might go to the UN General Assembly for passing a resolution to the same effect. It is hoped such a move will isolate China and bring it global shame.
But here the US and its allies might be completely wrong. China is impervious to international opinion. Otherwise, it would not clamp down on its minorities, especially the Uighur Muslims who are being brutally repressed and persecuted. Meanwhile, India, at the receiving end of Azhoor’s jihadi terror, has reason to be grateful to the US and other western nations for taking the initiative to sanction Azhar, but may be in no position to force the issue with a hostile China.
Given the sensitive nature of its ties with China, and the unresolved boundary question, it can push it only up to a point beyond which it can only strain relations further. Hence, its stress on ‘patience and persistence’ with China on Azhar. Whether Azahar is blacklisted by the UN body, there is no alternative to India putting its own house in order and doing all in its power to foil future attempts by terrorists to hurt it. National security above all else should be the number one priority.