Asserting that the “conditions” have not yet been met for declaring Jaish-e-Mohammad Chief and mastermind of Pathankot attack Masood Azhar a global terrorist, China On February 8 defended its move to thwart US’s bid at United Nations.
The latest proposal to get Azhar listed on the UN terror catalogue was moved by the Barack Obama administration on 19 January, its last working day. The proposal also got the support of UK and France.
However, China has largely remained unaffected by the move. It again put a technical hold (for the third time) on attempts to list Azhar as a global terrorist which makes it the only country in 15-nation UN Security Council to play truant.
Responding to a flurry of questions on the issue , China’s foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang said that Beijing resorted to this move to allow the “relevant parties” to reach a consensus, PTI reported.
“Last year 1,267 committee of the UN Security Council discussed the issue regarding listing Masood (Azhar) in the sanctions list. There were different views with no consensus reached,” PTI quoted LU as saying.
“As for the submission once again by relevant countries to list him in the sanctions list, I would say the conditions are not yet met for the Committee to reach a decision,” he said.
” China has put the request on technical hold+ , to allow the relevant parties more time to consult with each other. This is also in line with rules of the relevant resolutions of the Security Council and the rules of the discussion of the committee,” he said.
To a question whether it will have an impact on China-India relations, he said Beijing and New Delhi “have exchanged views” on the issue.
