New Delhi: While UK high commissioner to India Dominic Asquith indicated that China has not yet conveyed any change on its position on its technical hold on the listing of Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar, he was hopeful of a positive conclusion “shortly”.
After the Pulwama suicide bomb attack for which Jaish-e-Mohammed took responsibility, the UK, France and the US had moved a proposal to bring Azhar under the UN sanctions regime by listing him as a global terrorist with the 1267 UNSC sanctions committee.
China had put a hold on the listing in mid-March, following which three permanent members circulated a draft UNSC resolution for black-listing Azhar.
There has been rising speculation this week in New Delhi that China may be ready to remove its hold over the listing of Masood Azhar. Sources had indicated that there were positive noises being made by Beijing behind closed doors.
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Speaking to reporters in Delhi on Friday, UK’s envoy to India first stated that China has not yet removed its hold. “We’re waiting to see whether the country that has so far been resisting in agreeing to his listing will lift that objection,” Asquith said.
Asquith noted that that the UK has been “strong supporters of the listing of Masood Azhar for a decade”. “So, I hope we will get to that conclusion shortly,” he added.
The UK envoy’s words came in the same week that a senior US official conveyed to the Indian side that Washington’s advocacy on Masood Azhar was linked to New Delhi’s implementation of unilateral sanctions against Iran. US Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for South and Central Asia, Alice Wells was in Delhi earlier this week, just a couple of days after White House announced that waivers for import of oil from Iran would not be renewed after May 2.
India’s response had been to state that it was ready to stop all oil imports from Iran. Indian officials claimed that the shortfall would be met with additional supplies from UAE and Saudi Arabia, but no specific details has been released so far.
Indian foreign secretary Vijay Gokhale had also travelled to Beijing earlier this week for routine consultations. The Indian press release on the visit had noted that Gokhale had shared “all evidences of terrorist activities of Jaish-e-Mohammad and its leader Masood Azhar”.
Also read: No April 23 Deadline, but Moving to Resolve Masood Azhar Listing at UNSC: China
On April 17, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Lu Kang had asserted that China was opposed to “relevant countries’ attempt to force a new resolution” on Masood Azhar.
He also added that discussions at the level of the 1267 sanctions committee can continue. “As a matter of fact, in relevant discussions at the Security Council, the majority of the membership has made it clear that the issue should rightly be resolved within the framework of the 1267 Committee instead of the Security Council. We urge relevant countries to respect this view, continue to meet each other half way with a cooperative attitude and work together for a proper settlement of this issue in the 1267 Committee,” Lu said.
The listing of Masood Azhar in UNSC 1267 committee is a top diplomatic priority for the Indian government. Any movement by China to remove the hold would also come give a shot in in the arm for the re-election campaign of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who has been seeking votes on the nationalism plank based on the terror attacks by Pakistan-based groups.
Also read: Once Again, China Blocks Terror Listing for Masood Azhar at UN
Incidentally, Asquith also suggested that UK had also been among the countries who had worked behind the scenes after the February 26 airstrikes to bring down tensions between India and Pakistan. Earlier, the US, UAE and Saudi Arabia had indicated that they had mediated not only to bring down the possibility of further airstrikes, but also on the return of the captured Indian pilot.
“We were very actively involved in talking to both sides, and a variety of key actors over in Pakistan to make clear what we expected in terms of Pakistani actions against those terrorist groups who are operating around the line of control in terms of verifiable, publicly declared and irreversible actions against those groups. Don’t mistake natural British modesty in what we say in public with a lack of activity,” he said.