A UN Security Council committee blacklisted the head of the
Pakistan-based militant group Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) on Wednesday after China
dropped its objection to the move, ending a long diplomatic impasse, Reuters reported.
Western powers have for many years been attempting to
sanction JeM head Masood Azhar, whose group has carried out several
high-profile attacks in India, but Pakistan ally China has repeatedly opposed their
efforts.
JeM claimed responsibility for a February suicide bombing
that killed at least 40 Indian paramilitary police in Indian-controlled
Kashmir, an attack that brought the two nuclear-armed neighbors to the brink of
war.
Azhar’s freedom within Pakistan has been a sore point in the
relationship between Western countries and Pakistan, and has led to repeat
accusations by India that Islamabad uses and harbors militant groups to further
its foreign policy agenda. Pakistan denies such accusations.
The United States, Britain and France had initially asked
the UN Security Council’s ISIS and al-Qaeda sanctions committee to subject the
JeM founder to an arms embargo, travel ban and asset freeze in February.
But the move by the 15-member committee, which operates by
consensus, was blocked by China, which had previously prevented the sanctions
committee from imposing sanctions on Azhar in 2016 and 2017. China had said it
wanted more time to study the February request.
The United States, Britain and France then stepped up their
push to blacklist Azhar in late March by proposing a resolution, which would
have needed nine votes in favor and no vetoes by Russia, China, the United
States, Britain or France to pass.
After further negotiations, they instead submitted a new
request to the committee on Sunday to sanction Azhar, which was agreed on
Wednesday.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said in a
statement that Beijing had no objections to Azhar’s listing after studying
revised proposals at the United Nations and that the issue was now
“appropriately resolved.”
“I would like to emphasize that Pakistan has made enormous
contributions to the fight against terrorism, which should be fully affirmed by
the international community. China will continue to firmly support Pakistan’s
efforts to fight terrorism and extremist forces,” Geng added, without
elaborating.
PAKISTAN TO ENFORCE SANCTIONS
Pakistan’s foreign ministry spokesman Mohammad Faisal said
Islamabad agreed to the move after the listing removed references to the
February attack in the Indian city of Pulwama, as well as linking it to the
insurgency in Indian-controlled Kashmir, which Pakistan terms a struggle for
self-determination.
“We’re going to enforce this decision forthwith,” Faisal
told reporters in the capital, Islamabad, referring to the travel ban and asset
freezes.
In a statement, India’s foreign ministry welcomed the designation
of Azhar as “a step in the right direction to demonstrate the international
community’s resolve to fight against terrorism and its enablers.”
JeM, a predominantly anti-India group, also forged ties with
al-Qaeda and was blacklisted by the UN Security Council in 2001.
In December 2001, the group’s fighters, along with members
of another Pakistan-based militant group, Lashkar-e-Taiba, attacked India’s
parliament, which almost led to a fourth war between the two countries.
The February attack in Indian-controlled Kashmir prompted
India to carry out an aerial bombing mission inside Pakistan, the first such
move since a 1971 war. Pakistan carried out its own aerial bombardment the
following day, and the two countries even fought a brief dogfight over Kashmir
skies.
Tensions began to ease when Pakistan, amid pressure from
global powers, returned a downed Indian pilot shot down over
Pakistan-controlled Kashmir.
Pakistan has been on a charm offensive in recent months to
avoid the country being blacklisted by a global financial body, the Financial
Action Task Force (FATF), which monitors money laundering and terrorism
financing.
Islamabad has vowed to crack down on anti-India militants
and other outfits operating on its soil. It has shut down some madrassas linked
to violent groups and as part of the crackdown also detained relatives of Azhar
in “protective custody”.
