New Delhi: China has placed a “technical hold” on a joint proposal by India and the US at the UN Security Council (UNSC) to impose sanctions on Abdul Rauf Asghar, deputy chief of the proscribed terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) — a move New Delhi has termed “politically motivated”.
The younger brother of JeM chief Masood Azhar, Asghar has been involved in the planning and execution of numerous terror attacks, including the hijacking of Indian Airlines aircraft IC-814 in 1999, the 2001 attack on the Indian Parliament, and the 2016 attack on the Indian Air Force base in Pathankot.
India had Thursday moved a proposal — co-sponsored by the US — at the UN Security Council to get Asghar listed by the group’s 1267 Sanctions Committee, top diplomatic sources told ThePrint.
However, China placed a “technical hold” on the proposal while all other 14 member states of the UN Security Council were “supportive of the listing proposal”, a source added.
“It is unfortunate that the sanctions committee has been prevented from playing its role due to political considerations. China’s actions expose its doublespeak and double standards when it comes to the international community’s shared battle against terrorism,” a top official said on condition of anonymity.
“Such politically motivated actions by China, in nearly every listing case of a Pakistan-based terrorist, undermine the entire sanctity of the working methods of the UNSC sanctions committees,” the official added.
Any individual designated as an international terrorist by the 1267 Sanctions Committee faces travel bans and monetary sanctions enforced by the United Nations.
This is not the first time that Beijing has obstructed the listing of terrorists in the 1267 Sanctions Committee.
In June 2022, China had placed on hold a joint proposal by India and the US to list the deputy chief of the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), Abdul Rehman Makki, in the sanctions list. Makki has been involved in raising funds, recruiting and radicalising youth to resort to violence, and planning attacks on India, including 26/11.
Just as Asghar, both India and the US have already listed Makki as a terrorist under their domestic laws.
Sources said there is “incontrovertible evidence” to justify both these listing proposals.
While this diplomatic tussle is playing out at the UN in New York, the move is likely to impact bilateral ties between India and China — already at an all-time low owing to the ongoing military stand-off along the Line of Actual Control (LAC).
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‘Need political will to defeat terrorism’
Earlier this week, Ruchira Kamboj, India’s Ambassador to the UN, slammed China and Pakistan, saying there should be “no double standards in dealing with terrorists”.
“We need political will to defeat terrorism. There can be no justification for terrorist acts, much less glorification of a terrorist, a tendency which we have unfortunately seen in recent years in some parts of the world,” Kamboj said Tuesday.
“The practice of placing holds and blocks on listing requests without any justification must end,” she added. “It is most regrettable that genuine and evidence-based listing proposals pertaining to some of the most notorious terrorists in the world are being placed on hold.”
India is the Chair of the UN’s Counter-Terrorism Committee for the year and is scheduled to host diplomats from the US, China and Russia on 28-29 October for a special meeting on counter-terrorism that will be held in Mumbai and New Delhi.
(Edited by Amrtansh Arora)
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