In a major blow to India's bid to put a ban on Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) leader and Pathankot terror attack mastermind, China today converted its ‘technical hold’ on the United Nations proposal to designate Maulana Masood Azhar as a terrorist into a ‘block.’
Thwarting India's bid to designate Azhar as a global terrorist in the UN, China had put a technical "hold" on sanctions against him in Security Council on March 31 this year, which was to expire tomorrow.
Notedly, China was the only member in the 15-nation UN body to put a hold on India's application with all other 14 members of the Council supporting New Delhi's bid to place Azhar on the 1267 sanctions list that would subject him to an assets freeze and travel ban.
The two countries have been holding talks on China's blocking Azhar's case as well as India's application to join the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG).
Disappointed with China’s move, the Ministry of External Affairs said that it would to continue the push through options left with it.
"Decision by China to block proposal to list Masood Azhar as terrorist is surprising as China herself is affected by scourge of terrorism," MEA spokerperson Vikas Swarup told media.
"Will continue to push forward with determination through options available with us to bring perpetrators of violence to justice," he added.
National Investigation Agency (NIA), India’s premier agency entrusted with probes in terror-related incidents, had filed a charge sheet against Azhar, his brother Rauf Asghar and two others for hatching the conspiracy of the January 2nd attack that killed seven personnel and injured 37 others.
The Pathankot terror strike had seen a joint investigation team from Pakistan also arriving in India for carrying out a probe.
