While both India and Pakistan are exulting over the designation of Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar as a global terrorist and calling it a result of their respective efforts, it cannot be forgotten that China made the international community wait for this day for ten long years.
Quoting experts, News 18 reports that “while India has to be commended for putting continuous pressure on other countries to designate Azhar, one must not forget that there is a subtle win for the Chinese in this too.”
“The key point here is that China made us wait for ten years for this simple a thing. It should also be seen as a win for the Chinese that they made us wait this long. Imagine, how hard it will be for us when it comes to more significant matters,” said Jabin Jacob, an associate professor at the Department of International Relations and Governance Studies in Shiv Nadar University in the report.
However, China’s move should not be seen as a change in its stance towards Pakistan, which continues to be its ally. Lauding India for keeping up its diplomatic pressure campaign, Former member of the National Security Advisory Board Alka Acharya said in the News 18 report that that there would hardly be any difference in China’s relation with Pakistan.
In fact, Chinese spokesperson, hours after Azhar was listed under the UN Sanctions List, said that it completely supported Pakistan in its fight against terror. “I would like to stress that Pakistan has made enormous contributions to fighting terrorism, which deserves the full recognition of the international community. China will continue to firmly support Pakistan’s efforts to combat terrorism and extremist forces,” foreign ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang said on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, India has said that it will seek the downgrading of Pakistan on the global “terrorism financing” list, reports AlJazeera. The Finance Minister, Arun Jaitley, on Thursday said that New Delhi would formally submit a request before the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) when the Paris-based body meets in mid-May.
It may be noted that Pakistan is already on the ‘grey list’ of FATF, of countries with inadequate controls over curbing money laundering and “terrorism financing”.
It may also be noted that the while the Modi government is being lauded for its ‘fat’, it was in 2009 when the UPA government was in power that India, moved a proposal at the United Nations to list Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar as a designated terrorist under the Sanctions Committee for the first time.
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