NEW DELHI: China has blocked India’s request to add the head of militant group Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) to a UN Security Council blacklist of groups linked to al Qaeda.
India has accused JeM and its top leader, Maulana Masood Azhar, of masterminding several attacks, including a deadly assault on an Indian airbase in January. Security officials interrogated Azhar and his associates after the attack, and said they found no evidence linking him to it.
The group has already been blacklisted by the 15-nation UN Security Council, but not Azhar, a hardliner and long-time foe of India. India’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup said on Friday that India had requested that Azhar be added to the list nine months ago, and had received strong backing from all other members of the council.
But China, which put a hold on the move in April, had now blocked it, he said. “We had expected China would have been more understanding of the danger posed to all by terrorism,” he said in a statement. Swarup added that the inability of the international community to take the step showed the “prevalence of double standards in the fight against terrorism”.
China’s Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment late on Friday evening. India has long accused Pakistan of using the group as a proxy to mount attacks on Indian soil, including in the Indian-held Kashmir. Pakistan denies giving any aid to Kashmir-based rebels.
