New Delhi: The international bid to put Masood Azharon on the terror list in the UN Security Council is gathering steam. Last week British high commissioner Dominic Asquith told journalists the UK was “optimistic” that the process would be completed soon. “We’re waiting to see whether the country that has so far been resisting in agreeing to his listing will lift that objection... We have been strong supporters of the listing of Masood Azhar for a decade.”
Senior US official, Alice Wells, who was in Delhi last week, said Azhar listing was on the agenda in the meetings with Indian officials. Sources familiar with developments said the US is pushing China to lift its hold and get the designation through in “very near term”.
At the UN in New York, officials have been finetuning the language of the resolution that will finally name Azhar, the head of Jaish-e-Mohammed. While there is no obvious “deadline”, the effort by the sponsors of the resolution - US, UK, France - is to get China to change its stand without suffering loss of face.
Officials involved in the exercise said that China doesn’t want to be seen as supporting a known terrorist. “They want the monkey off their back too,” they said. Last week, India's foreign secretary Vijay Gokhale made a final pitch with the Chinese leadership in Beijing. Giving a readout of the conversation, the MEA spokesperson said, “We have shared with China all evidences of terrorist activities of Jaish-e-Mohammad and its leader Masood Azhar. It is now for the 1267 Sanctions Committee and other authorised bodies of the UN to take a decision on the listing of Masood Azhar. India will continue to pursue all available avenues to ensure that terrorist leaders who are involved in heinous attacks on our citizens are brought to justice.”
Pakistan has resisted and relied on China’s veto support to keep Azhar off the list. There have been reports that China is afraid that a listing of Azhar might unleash retaliatory attacks against Chinese personnel working on the CPEC. However, Indian security officials have dismissed it, since security on CPEC is guaranteed by the Pakistan army.
