China has blocked a proposal by India and US at the UN to designate Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) deputy chief Abdul Rauf Azhar as a ‘global terrorist’. Rejecting this, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said in Beijing that they needed more time to assess the application.
It is not the first time that China rejected a listing by Indian and the US to blacklist a Pakistan based terrorist. Meanwhile, India on Friday described the move as the “most uncalled for”. External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said on Friday that India would continue to pursue its principled position of bringing the terrorist to justice including through UN Security Council’s sanction regime.
ABDUL RAUF AZHAR; THE MAN
Brother of JeM chief Masood Azhar, Rauf has been under US sanctions since December 2010 for acting for or on behalf of the group. He was among the conspirators behind the 1999 hijack of Indian Airlines flight IC-814 to secure the release of his brother Masood Azhar from a Kot Balwal jail of Jammu. He is also behind the attack on Indian Parliament in 2001, 2005 attack on makeshift Ayodhya Ram temple, and 2016 attack on an IAF base in Pathankot and the 2019 Pulwama attack. He maintains strong ties with the Taliban and Al-Qaeda,lashkar-e-taiba, Haqqani network and share their training camps in Afghanistan.
ABDUL RAUF AZHAR; THE SANCTIONS
Soon after the Pathankot attack, the National Investigation Agency sought a red corner notice from Interpol against the terrorist. A number of Interpol Red Corner Notices are pending against 48-year-old Rauf Azhar .
Arindam Bagchi told the media that the practice of placing holds and blocks without giving any justification must end. He also said it was regrettable that genuine and evidence-based listing proposals pertaining to some of the most notorious terrorists in the world are being placed on hold. Double standards and continuing politicisation have rendered credibility of sanctions committee at an all-time low, he added.
