China avoids Masood Azhar ban issue after BRICS declaration names JEM
BEIJING: China on Monday parried questions on any change in its stand of blocking JEM chief Masood Azhar’s banning by the UN, even as the declaration of the BRICS summit for the first time named the terror outfit along with other Pakistan-based groups for spreading violence in the region.
A veto-wielding permanent member of the Security Council, China has repeatedly blocked moves to ban Azhar under the al-qaida sanctions committee of the Council.
“On participating in international campaign against terrorism, our position is consistent and firm,” Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told a media briefing here, commenting on the strong stand taken by BRICS countries, including China, by naming Pakistanbased terror outfits among those spreading violence in the region.
He, however, skirted a direct response to a question on whether the naming of Jaish-e-mohammad (JEM) by the BRICS in which China is a prominent member marks a change in Beijing’s stand of opposing the ban against Azhar, who heads the group.
“I have not seen the BRICS joint declaration and don’t know the specific content,” Geng said. “On the counter terrorism cooperation among the BRICS countries, we are very satisfied with the achievements made by the BRICS. We have a working group on terrorism,” he said.
In the last two years, China has stonewalled efforts by India and then later by the US, the UK and France to declare Azhar as a terrorist, stating that there is no consensus on the issue.
This has led to bilateral discord between India and China as Beijing’s move has been seen as an attempt to shield Azhar on behalf of Pakistan.
Early last month, China had again extended by three months its technical hold on the US, France and the UKbacked proposal to list Azhar for his role in the Pathankot terror attack. LONDON: An Indianorigin scientist has led a team at a UK university to create a medical camera that can see through the human body, and he believes it has immense potential for doctors in tracking internal examinations.
Kev Dhaliwal, Professor of Molecular Imaging and Healthcare Technology at the University of Edinburgh, believes that with this device doctors will no longer be required to exclusively rely on expensive scans and X-rays.
“It has immense potential for diverse applications, such as the one described in this work. The ability to see a device’s location is crucial for many applications in healthcare, as we move forwards with minimally invasive approaches to treating disease,” said Dhaliwal, the Project Lead of Proteus, which is part of a larger research collaboration developing a range of new technologies.
The camera is designed to help doctors track medical tools, known as endoscopes, that are used to investigate a range of internal conditions.
The new device is able to detect sources of light inside the body, such as the illuminated tip of the endoscope’s long flexible tube.