'There Should Be No Double Standards On Terrorism': MEA On China Blocking Bid To Blacklist Masood Azhar's Brother

Abdul Rauf Azhar is the brother of JeM chief Masood Azhar, the mastermind of the 2008 Mumbai attacks. MEA said Abdul Rauf Azhar was actively involved in terrorist attacks in India.

Chief of Jaish-e-Mohammad Maulana Masood Azhar

Source : AFP

The Ministry Of External Affairs (MEA) on Friday said there should be no double standards in dealing with terrorists after China blocked a proposal by the US and India at the UN Security Council to designate Pakistan-based JeM's deputy chief Abdul Rauf Azhar a global terrorist. Abdul Rauf Azhar is the brother of JeM chief Masood Azhar, the mastermind of the 2008 Mumbai attacks.

"It is unfortunate that the international community has been unable to speak in one common voice on our collective battle against terrorism. There should be no double standards in dealing with terrorists. Practice of placing holds and blocks without giving any justification must end," MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said in his weekly press briefing.

Abdul Rauf, born in 1974 in Pakistan, has been involved in planning and executing numerous terror strikes in India, including the hijacking of Indian Airlines aircraft IC-814 in 1999, the attack on the Parliament in 2001 and the targeting of the IAF base in Pathankot in 2016.

The MEA said it was "most regrettable" that genuine and evidence-based listing proposals pertaining to some of the most notorious terrorists in the world werebeing placed on hold. 

"Double standards and continuing politicisation have rendered credibility of sanctions committee at an all-time low," Bagchi further said.

On India and China relations, the MEA spokesperson said, "We have consistently maintained the necessity of mutual respect, mutual sensitivity and mutual interest, as the basis of the development of ties."

China on Wednesday put a "technical hold" on the joint proposal at the United Nations Security Council to designate Azhar as a global terrorist and subject him to assets freeze, travel ban and arms embargo. All other 14 member states of the top UN body supported the move, PTI reported quoting sources.

China said it needed more time to assess the application to designate Azhar a global terrorist.

This is the second time in less than two months that China has put a hold on a listing by the US and India in the UN to blacklist a Pakistan-based terrorist.

In June this year, China had put a hold on a joint proposal by India and the US to list Pakistan-based terrorist Abdul Rehman Makki under the 1267 Al-Qaida Sanctions Committee of the UN Security Council.

In May 2019, the UN designated Pakistan-based JeM chief Masood Azhar as a "global terrorist", a decade after India had first approached the global body on the issue.

(With inputs from agencies)