Mounting the international pressure to designate Jaish-e-Muhammed chief Masood Azhar as a “global terrorist”, the US, supported by France and the UK, has directly moved a draft resolution in the UN Security Council to blacklist the Pakistan-based group’s chief.
Two weeks after China put a hold on a proposal to list Azharunder the 1267 Al Qaeda Sanctions Committee of the Council, the US Wednesdaycirculated the draft resolution to the powerful 15-nation Council to blacklistthe leader of the Pakistan-based group and subject him to a travel ban, anassets freeze and an arms embargo.
UN sources told PTI that this is the “first time” the US,the UK and France have moved a draft resolution directly in the SecurityCouncil to designate Azhar. The previous have been listing proposals in theSanctions Committee of the Council to designate Azhar.
Unlike a listing proposal, which is generally under a 10-day no objection period, the draft resolution is not under any no-objectionprovision.
Reacting to Washington’s move, Chinese Foreign Ministryspokesman Geng Shuang in Beijing said: “This is not in line with resolution ofthe issue through dialogue and negotiations. This has reduced the authority ofthe Committee as a main anti-terrorism body of the UNSC and this is notconducive to the solidarity and only complicates the issue”.
“We urge the US to act cautiously and avoid forcefullymoving forward this draft resolution,” Geng said.
Sources in New York said that the draft resolution will bediscussed informally and then it goes to the Council.
However, it’s not yet decided by when a vote would be heldon the draft resolution, during when it could again face a veto by China, whichhas in the past blocked bids to blacklist Azhar.
Sources said the draft resolution would condemn “in thestrongest terms the heinous and cowardly suicide bombing” on February 14 inJammu and Kashmir’s Pulwama district that killed 40 CRPF personnel.
An annex to the draft resolution says Azhar is associatedwith the Islamic State group, Al-Qaida for “participating in the financing,planning, facilitating, preparing, or perpetrating” or “supplying, selling ortransferring arms and related material” or supporting acts of Jaish-e-Mohammed(JeM).
It says that Azhar founded JeM after his release from prisonin India in 1999 in exchange for 155 hostages held on an Indian Airlines flightthat had been hijacked to Kandahar, Afghanistan.
It adds that Azhar was previously the leader of theHarakat-al-Mujahadin, also known as Harakat-ul-Ansar, and that most of thesegroups’ members subsequently joined Jaish under Azhar’s leadership.
In 2008, JeM recruitment posters contained a call from Azharfor volunteers to join the fight in Afghanistan against Western forces.
The Sanctions Committee makes its decisions by consensus ofits members. However, for a resolution in the Security Council to pass, itneeds nine votes in favour and no vetoes from any of its five permanentmembers—China, Russia, the United States, France and the UK.
France, the UK and the US on February 27 moved a proposal todesignate Azhar under the 1267 Al Qaeda Sanctions Committee.
It was under the no-objection period and Committee membershad a period of 10 working days to raise any objections to the proposal.
More than a dozen member states had co-sponsored theproposal. About an hour before the no-objection deadline was to expire on March13 at 3 PM, China blocked the proposal by putting a hold on it.
India expressed disappointment by the outcome, saying in astatement “this has prevented action by the international community todesignate the leader of JeM, a proscribed and active organisation which hasclaimed responsibility for the militant attack in Jammu and Kashmir on 14February 2019”.
Meanwhile, US secretary of State Mike Pompeo made anapparent reference to China blocking the proposal when he said Wednesday thatChina abuses over a million Muslims at home, but “protects violent Islamicgroups from UN sanctions”.
The February proposal was the fourth such bid at the UN inthe last 10 years to list Azhar as a “global terrorist”.
In 2009, India moved a proposal by itself to designateAzhar. In 2016 again India moved the proposal with the P3—the US, the UK andFrance in the UN’s 1267 Sanctions Committee to ban Azhar, also the mastermindof the attack on the air base in Pathankot in January, 2016.
In 2017, the P3 nations moved a similar proposal again.However, on all occasions China, a veto-wielding permanent member of theSecurity Council, blocked the proposals from being adopted by the SanctionsCommittee.
A UNSC designation will subject Azhar to an assets freeze,travel ban and an arms embargo. An assets freeze under the Sanctions Committeerequires that all states freeze without delay the funds and other financialassets or economic resources of designated individuals and entities.
The travel ban entails preventing the entry into or transitby all states through their territories by designated individuals.
Under the arms embargo, all states are required to preventthe direct or indirect supply, sale and transfer from their territories or bytheir nationals outside their territories, or using their flag vessels oraircraft, of arms and related materiel of all types, spare parts and technicaladvice, assistance or training related to military activities, to designatedindividuals and entities.
Meanwhile, while China Thursday slammed Washington for itsmove.
Beijing also accused Washington of “bypassing” the UN 1267Committee and eroding its authority.
“The US has bypassed the 1267 Committee and directly filedthe draft of the resolution to the Security Council. This is not in line withthe resolution of the issue through dialogue and negotiations,” China’s foreignministry spokesperson Geng Shuang said.
He was responding to a question about the US circulating adraft banning Azhar in the UNSC outside the 1267 committee framework.
“This has reduced the authority of the committee as the mainanti-terrorism body of the Security Council. This is not conducive to thesolidarity and will only complicate the issue”.
“I shall say that China has never denied such a draft… Wejust put a technical hold”, Geng said.
Beijing shields its ally Pakistan where it has billions ofdollars of investments as part of its massive Belt and Road project.
“The relevant country filed an application to list Masood atthe committee 1267. Since China needs more time to conduct an in-depth andcomprehensive review, we put forward a technical hold on the listing on March13. This is in line with the rule of procedure of the committee and there aresome precedent cases of such technical holds,” Geng said.
“The listing of Masood involves a series of complex factors and China has also been working seek a proper solution through dialogue. Under the current circumstances, the Security Council should act in a prudential way to play a constructive role and create necessary time and space for the relevant parties to conduct dialogue and negotiations,” Geng added.
PTI