China has objected to India’s request to blacklist Abdul Rauf Azhar, a senior member of the Pakistan-based terrorist group Jaish-e Mohammed (JeM), at the United Nations Security Council. Rauf, who is the brother of JeM chief Masood Azhar, has been involved in planning and executing numerous terror strikes in India, including the hijacking of Indian Airlines aircraft IC814 in 1999, the attack on the Parliament in 2001, and the targeting of the IAF base in Pathankot in 2016.
China, a permanent member of the UN Security Council, had put a hold on India and the US’s proposal last year to designate Rauf as a global terrorist and subject him to assets freeze, travel ban, and arms embargo. China has also blocked proposals to blacklist other Pakistan-based terrorists, including Hafiz Talah Saeed, Shahid Mahmood, Sajid Mir, and Abdul Rehman Makki.
In December 2022, during India’s Presidency of the UN Security Council, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar called out Pakistan and China for putting evidence-backed proposals to blacklist terrorists on hold without assigning adequate reason. The US had designated Rauf as a senior leader of JeM in December 2010.
Rohit is a News18.com journalist who covers world affairs and football.
