China defends terrorist Masood Azhar, justifies UN veto of India’s move

TIL Desk/World/Washington/ Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi has defended Beijing’s repeated blockage of India’s bids at the United Nations to list Masood Azhar, chief of Pakistan-based terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) as a global terrorist. China, while defending the terrorist, argued that the issue lacks “consensus” among the members of the UN Security Council as well as the “directly concerned” parties – India and Pakistan.

Masood Azhar is accused of several deadly terrorist attacks in India, including one on the Uri military base in Jammu and Kashmir in 2016, in which 17 security personnel were killed. China, being a veto-wielding permanent member of the UN Security Council, has repeatedly blocked India’s move. The US, Britain and France all back India to designate Masood Azhar a terrorist under the Al-Qaeda Sanctions Committee of the UN Security Council.

The Jaish-e-Mohammed, founded by Masood Azhar, has already been in the UN’s list of banned terror outfits. China, in its statement, said that since Pakistan didn’t agree with India on this issue, there is no “consensus” between the two directly affected parties. Beijing made it clear that China will support the issue only if Pakistan agrees with India.