Big diplomatic win for India; Masood Azhar designated global terrorist by UNSC
India scores a big diplomatic victory; JeM Chief Masood Azhar designated as a global terrorist at the UN; Prime Minister Narendra Modi thanks participating countries for their support to India’s stand against terror; US, France and other countries welcome UNSC decision.
Masood Azhar designated a global terrorist, a major diplomatic victory for India as China offers support on the Masood Azhar issue. China withdrew the technical hold it put in March on a resolution seeking Azhar’s designation as a global terrorist. France, the UK and the US had moved the resolution in UN Security Council’s 1267 Al Qaeda Sanctions Committee days after the Pulwama Attack.
Sharing the news in a tweet India’s representative at the UN Syed Akbaruddin said: Big,small, all join together.
In its listing, UNSC has found Masood Azhar as being associated with Al Qaida by participating in the financing, planning and facilitating of its terror activities as well as recruiting for it. It has been established that Azhar’s terror outfit Jaish e Mohammed also has associations with Al Qaida. UNSC has already listed JeM as a terrorist organization in Oct 2001.
Beijing on Tuesday hinted at this move saying that the vexed issue of designating Azhar as a global terrorist by the UN will be “properly resolved.”
China had put a hold in March on a fresh proposal by the US, UK and France to impose a ban on the chief of the JeM which claimed responsibility for the deadly Pulwama terror attack.
The proposal was the fourth such bid at the UN in the last 10 years to list Azhar as a global terrorist. In 2009, India had moved a proposal by itself to designate Azhar. In 2016 again India moved the proposal along with the P3 – the United States, the United Kingdom and France in the UN’s 1267 Sanctions Committee to ban Azhar, also the mastermind of the attack on the air base in Pathankot in January, 2016.
In 2017, the P3 nations moved a similar proposal again. However, on all occasions China, a veto-wielding permanent member of the Security Council, blocked India’s proposal from being adopted by the Sanctions Committee.
A UNSC designation will subject Azhar to an assets freeze, travel ban and an arms embargo. An assets freeze under the Sanctions Committee requires that all states freeze without delay the funds and other financial assets or economic resources of designated individuals and entities. The travel ban entails preventing the entry into or transit by all states through their territories by designated individuals.
