New Delhi: The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on Friday said that there should be no double standards in dealing with terrorists after China blocked a proposal by the US and India to designate Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) Deputy Chief Abdul Rauf Azhar as a “global terrorist” in the UN Security Council.
Abdul Rauf is the brother of JeM chief Masood Azhar who is the mastermind behind the 2008 Mumbai attacks.
“It is unfortunate that the international community has been unable to speak in one common voice on our collective fight against terrorism. There should be no double standards in dealing with terrorists. The practice of hold and block without any justification must end,” MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said during his weekly press conference.
Abdul Rauf, born in 1974, in Pakistan, has been involved in the planning and execution of several terror attacks in India, including the 1999 Indian Airlines plane IC-814 hijack, the 2001 Parliament attack and 2016 Pathankot attack.
The foreign ministry said it was “most regrettable” that genuine and evidence-based listing proposals relating to some of the world’s most notorious terrorists were withheld.
“Double standards and continued politicisation have destroyed the credibility of the Sanctions Committee to an all-time low,” Bagchi said.
On India and China relations, Bagchi said: “We have consistently upheld the need for mutual respect, mutual sensitivity and mutual interest as the basis for the development of relations.”
China on Wednesday put a “technical hold” on a joint resolution in the UN Security Council to designate Azhar as a global terrorist and impose an asset freeze, travel ban and arms embargo, which all the other 14 member states of the apex UN body supported.
China said it needs more time to assess the application for designating Azhar as a global terrorist.
This is the second time, in less than two months, that China has blocked the blacklisting of a Pakistan-based terrorist by the US and India at the UN.
In June, China had blocked a joint proposal by India and the US to list Pakistan-based terrorist Abdul Rehman Makki under the 1267 Al-Qaeda Sanctions Committee of the UN Security Council.
In May 2019, the UN designated Masood Azhar as a “global terrorist”, a decade after India first approached the global body on the issue.
