New Delhi: A Chinese foreign office spokesperson Tuesday indicated a softening of Beijing’s position on designating Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) chief Masood Azhar a global terrorist, saying the issue will be “properly resolved”.
India and China remain constantly in touch, Indian officials told ThePrint on the condition of anonymity. In the wake of Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale’s visit to Beijing a week ago, the officials said they were “confident that China would do the right thing and lift the technical hold”.
China’s change in stance comes days after Chinese President Xi Jinping met Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan in Beijing, and a day after Pakistan’s foreign office spokesperson told a local TV channel that Islamabad would consider blacklisting Azhar only if India agreed to delink his name from the February Pulwama suicide attack in which more than 40 CRPF personnel were killed. The JeM had claimed responsibility for the attack.
As international pressure grows on China to lift its ‘technical hold’ on blacklisting Azhar, New Delhi is confident that Beijing will take a positive call on the issue.
“It is China’s call. Either they accede to the first (UN Sanctions Committee) or they will have to face the second option (Resolution at UNSC). In both cases, the decision lies with China,” a top government official told ThePrint.
Also read: India confident China will lift ‘technical hold’ to list Masood Azhar as terrorist
China’s ‘technical hold’
In March, China had placed a ‘technical hold’ on a proposal at the UNSC Sanctions Committee for a ban on Azhar, stating that it needed more time to discuss the matter. It was the fourth time that China thwarted such a move. It had done so before in 2009, 2016 and 2017. The ‘technical hold’ remains valid for six months after which it can be extended for another three months.
However, it has become tough for China ever since the US, the UK and France moved a new draft resolution at the UNSC last month, adding more pressure on the Chinese government to blacklist the Pakistan-based terrorist.
There is a difference in blacklisting Azhar under the Sanctions Committee and under the Security Council. While at the UNSC 1267 al Qaeda Sanctions Committee there is a time-frame to act on a resolution — and many can be introduced and defeated over the years — at the council it’s open-ended. This is because the committee functions on the principle of consensus while at the council it is based on the vote.
The only difference between the previous attempt to list Azhar as a global terrorist and now is that this is the first such attempt made by the US, and China has never publicly voted against Azhar or explained the rationale for a vote.
“There is a process underway (on Azhar’s listing) so everyone is positioning themselves,” the government official said.
(With PTI inputs)
Also read: Masood Azhar issue moving towards settlement, says China