New Delhi: China has again put a hold on the proposal to put Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) terrorist Abdul Rauf Azhar on the sanctions list of the United Nations Security Council.
There has been no official response from the Indian side so far.
Azhar, brother of JeM chief Masood Azhar, was sanctioned by the US in December 2010. He was involved in planning and executing numerous terror strikes in India, including the hijacking of the Indian Airlines aircraft IC814 in 1999, the attack on the parliament in 2001, and the targeting of the IAF base in Pathankot in 2016.
In August last year, India and the US had jointly moved the proposal to designate Rauf Azhar as a global terrorist and subject him to an assets freeze, travel ban and arms embargo. However, China had put a technical hold on the matter in the UNSC’s 1267 ISIL and Al Qaida sanctions list.
Indian government sources had initially unofficially criticised Beijing for “double standards”.
“China’s actions expose its double speak and double standards when it comes to the international community’s shared battle against terrorism,” said a source in August 2022 after China blocked India and the US’s bid to sanction Rauf Azhar as a global terrorist.
Thereafter, the Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson commented that it was “unfortunate that when it comes to our collective battle against terrorism, the international community has been unable to speak in one common voice”.
After the August 2022 hold, a spokesperson for China’s mission to the UN had told reporters that the hold was placed “because we need more time to study the case”.
Last year, China had put a technical hold on a number of proposals by India and other Western countries to target Pakistan-based terrorists for UN sanctions.
However, in January this year, China allowed the listing of Abdul Rehman Makki by the UNSC committee, after it held up this proposal for six months after putting a hold in June 2022.
Makki is the brother-in-law of Lashkar-e-Taiba chief and 26/11 Mumbai terror attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed. He is also the deputy chief at LeT and head of its political affairs wing.