Beijing: China on Thursday accused the US of undermining the authority of the UN anti-terrorism committee by "forcefully moving" a resolution in the UNSC to list Pakistan-based JeM chief Masood Azhar as a global terrorist, saying America's move only "complicates" the issue.
The US, supported by France and the UK, has moved a draft resolution in the UN Security Council to blacklist the Pakistan-based terror group's chief, two weeks after China put a hold on a proposal to list Azhar under the 1267 Al Qaeda Sanctions Committee of the Council.
Asked about the development, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told a media briefing that Washington move only complicates the issue. This is not in line with resolution of the issue through dialogue and negotiations. This has reduced the authority of the Committee as a main anti-terrorism body of the UNSC and this is not conducive to the solidarity and only complicates the issue.
"We urge the US to act cautiously and avoid forcefully moving forward this resolution draft," Geng said.
On March 13, Beijing had put a “technical hold” on a US, UK, and France-backed resolution to list Azhar as a global terrorist at the 1267 sanctions committee focussed on anti-terrorism.
After blocking the move for the fourth time, Beijing said it wanted more time to study the matter of listing Azhar.
The new resolution moved by the US directly at the UNSC could force Beijing to “veto” the move – if it wants to stop Azhar from being listed -- instead of taking the more diplomatic route of putting a “technical hold”, the reasons for which aren’t made public.
Azhar’s JeM claimed responsibility of the Pulwama suicide attack in February, the worst such attack in Kashmir, in which 40 CRPF jawans were killed.
The international community has supported India’s calls to list Azhar as a global terrorist, which will subject him to travel ban and asset freeze.
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