Massod Azhar
and vote, which would be an unprecedented move and a public rebuke of China. Beijing will then be forced to “defend its defence of a well-known terrorist in full public view” as open UN Security Council proceedings are telecast live, they said.
India has been critical of the opaque process by which the Sanctions Committee lists terrorists. Its proceedings and decisions are confidential and members don’t have to explain their decision.
If the designation is put before the UN Security Council, China will be forced to take a stand publicly, in full view of those watching the live feed as it “either defends its opposition to the designation of a man who is undeniably a terrorist or gives up”, the officials said.
The UNSC diplomat – who presumably spoke for France, the United States and Britain, which had backed the latest proposal to list Azhar – criticised Pakistan for depending “on China to protect it from the listing of Pakistanbased terrorist groups and individuals”.
Asked about the reason for blocking the move, China’s foreign ministry spokesperson Lu Kang said this was in line with the rules of the Sanctions Committee.
“The UNSC 1267 committee has clear standards and procedures for designating terrorist organisations and individuals. China conducts thorough and in-depth assessment of these applications and we still need more time. That is why we put forward the technical hold,” he said.
The external affairs ministry in New Delhi expressed “disappointment” at the blocking of the move, and there was anger and frustration all around with China.
A spokesperson for the US embassy in New Delhi said: “With respect to China, the US and China share a mutual interest in achieving regional stability and peace, and a failure to designate Azhar would run counter to this goal.”
JEM is a Un-designated terror group and Azhar is its founder and leader, and “he clearly meets the criteria for designation by the UN”, the spokesperson said. JEM has been responsible for numerous terror attacks and is a threat to regional peace, and the US will continue to work with the Sanctions Committee to ensure the “designation list is updated and accurate”, the spokesperson added.
The UNSC diplomat said this was the fourth time China had placed a hold on the listing. “China should not prevent the committee from doing the job the UN Se c ur i t y Council has entrusted it to do. China’s move to hold the listing is inconsistent with its own stated goals of combating terrorism and furthering regional stability in South Asia,” the diplomat added.
Speaking hours ahead of China’s decision on Wednesday, external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj told an event in New Delhi that Pakistan should hand over Azhar to India. “Some people say (Pakistan Prime Minister) Imran Khan is a statesman. If he is so generous, then he should hand over JEM chief Masood Azhar to India. Let’s see how generous he is,” she said. planes was announced in April 2015, with an agreement signed a little over a year later. This replaced the previous United Progressive Alliance regime’s decision to buy 126 Rafale aircraft, 108 of which were to be made in India by state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd.
The deal has become controversial with the opposition, led by the Congress, claiming that the price at which India is buying Rafale aircraft now is Rs 1,670 crore for each, three times the Rs 526 crore, the initial bid by the company when the UPA was trying to buy the aircraft. It has also claimed the previous deal included a technology transfer agreement with HAL.
The NDA has not disclosed details of the price, but the UPA deal, struck in 2012, was not a viable one, former defence minister Manohar Parrikar has previously said, implying that it would have never been closed and that, therefore, any comparison is moot.
The deal has also become controversial on account of the fact that one of the offset deals signed by Dassault is with the Reliance Group of Anil Ambani. The Congress claims the earlier deal was scrapped and a new one signed just to provide Ambani this opportunity for an offset deal. Both the government and Reliance have repeatedly denied this. from 80 to 800, and the number of MBBS students, post graduate students, senior residents, and research scholars has crossed 5,000... There has been some need-based expansion, but it’s been haphazard and added to the chaos,” said Dr MC Mishra, former director, AIIMS, who joined the institute as a senior resident in 1980.