China has blocked India’s request to add the head of the Pakistan-based 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 air base in January. Following the Pathankot incident, Pakistani security officials interrogated Azhar and his associates and said they found no evidence linking him to it. The 15-nation Security Council has already blacklisted JeM, but not Azhar, a hardliner and long-time foe of India. IndianForeign Ministry spokesman VikasSwarup said 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 except China. Swarup added that the inability of the international community to take the step showed the prevalence of double standards in the fight against terrorism. India has long accused its neighbour, and rival Pakistan of using Jaish-e-Mohammad as a proxy to mount attacks on Indian soil, including in the disputed Kashmir region, and earlier gave what it called “actionable intelligence” to Pakistan, including telephone intercepts. For India, China’s decision to block Indian request might come as a setback to their efforts with regards to isolating Pakistan following the recent severing of ties between the two countries. Recently, at the last BRICS summit, both China and Russia had also refused to term Pakistan as a terrorist state, denting India’s hopes in this regard.
