New Delhi: At last the impossible has happened. After relentless efforts by the Indian government the terror chief of Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), Masood Azhar, is designated as global terrorist by the UN Security Council. China, which was the only country at the UNSC to oppose the ban on JeM chief, at last withdrew its resistance leading the way for the ban to come into effect.
India’s Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the UN, Syed Akbaruddin, has tweeted, “Big, small, all join together. Masood Azhar designated as a terrorist in @UN Sanctions list. Grateful to all for their support. ”
After China withdrew its resistance, the terror chief was designated as a global terrorist at a meeting of the UN Security Council’s 1267 Al Qaeda Sanctions Committee today.
Yesterday, China had called for resolving the issue pertaining to the listing Azhar as a global terrorist by the UN.
In addition, the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang told yesterday, “I can only say that I believe that this will be properly resolved.”
Once the JeM chief is designated as a global terrorist, he will face ban on travel, his assets will be frozen and he will find it hard to obtain arms for his terror activities.
Masood Azhar had a free reign under the Pakistani government to wreak havoc in India. He was able to procure funding from across the world and received weapons to arm his members for war against India. With the global ban on him all these will stop and those individuals or organizations or even nations dealing with the JeM chief will find themselves under the scanner and will be forced to answer for their actions.
The Chinese withdrawal of its resistance to the global ban is testimony of the master moves by Narendra Modi in the global arena. The communist country had opposed the designation of Masood Azhar as global terrorists four times at the UNSC. China was the sole nation at the UNSC opposing the ban on technical grounds.
A sudden turnaround of China comes after Indian government’s non-stop diplomatic assault after Pulwama attacks. In March, China had opposed the ban even after all other countries strongly had vouched for putting Masood Azhar on the global terror list.
China’s veto shocked the major powers which put pressure on the Chinese government to withdraw their opposition. India leveraged its diplomatic relations with the big powers to mount pressure on China.
The tough stand by Narendra Modi against Pakistan after Pulwama also led to a change of mind by the Chinese. Unlike previous governments, the Modi government chose to attack Pakistan at its own game with more lethality. Both the countries came to the brink of war.
China do not want a full blown war at its Southern borders which could destabilize the whole region. The Chinese fear that an unrest in South Asia could hamper its One Belt One Road initiative with which they plan to revamp and jump start its flattering economy.
The communist nation now realizes that Narendra Modi means business and that he could be extremely decisive when it comes to security threats. Earlier, the leaders often took a soft stand against Pakistan-backed terror organizations attacks and were afraid to stand up against nuclear threats and bullying by major powers. The former leaderships were quick to patch up with the Pakistanis.
With the coming of Narendra Modi, things have changed dramatically. After Pulwama attack, Modi did not back down till Pakistan was punished and humiliated before the world.
