China opposes India and US Bid to censure the leader of the JeM at the UN Security Council | How will this assist Pakistan?
China vetoed a bid by India and the United States to name Abdul Rauf Azhar, the leader of the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), as a global terrorist at the United Nations Security Council.
This is the second occasion in less than two months that Beijing has taken similar measures.
Azhar is the younger brother of JeM founder Masood Azhar and serves as the terrorist organization’s deputy leader with its principal base in Bahawalpur, Pakistan’s Punjab province.
Azhar was designated a terrorist by the US Treasury Department in December 2010.
China put a “technical hold” on the proposal, arguing that more time is needed for study, preventing India and the United States from putting Azhar before the UN Security Council on Wednesday.
According to people familiar with the matter, China has previously taken a similar approach to obstruct proposals to blacklist further terrorists based in Pakistan, a country with which it has long associated.
“We put the issue on hold because we need more time to investigate it.” According to a spokeswoman for China’s UN mission, who was referring to the Security Council’s sanctions committee, the committee’s criteria allow for imposing holds, and numerous such stays have been issued by committee members on listing requests.
China and Pakistan Plays the Game side by side in UNSC
On May 1, 2019, China lifted the technical hold on Masood Azhar’s case, allowing the 1267 committee to list him for his terrorist activities and links to al-Qaeda. China caved in due to rising international pressure and its own efforts to restore relations with New Delhi in the aftermath of the Doklam border conflict in 2017.
The UN Security Council’s designation of a terrorist compels the country where the individual is based to take three steps: freezing finances and financial assets, executing a travel restriction, and cutting off access to weapons and associated materials.
China opposes India
