China blocks UN action against Masood Azhar; India expresses disappointment

External Affairs Ministry said India will continue to pursue all available avenues to ensure that leaders of terror groups involved in heinous attacks on Indian citizens are brought to justice

India Wednesday expressed disappointment soon after China blocked yet another move at the United Nations to designate Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed’s chief Masood Azhar as a “global terrorist”.

In its reaction, the External Affairs Ministry said India will continue to pursue all available avenues to ensure that leaders of terror groups involved in heinous attacks on Indian citizens are brought to justice.

“We are disappointed by this outcome. This has prevented action by the international community to designate the leader of Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), a proscribed and active terrorist organization which has claimed responsibility for the terrorist attack in Jammu and Kashmir on February 14,” the MEA said.

Without naming China, it said the UN’s 1267 Sanctions Committee was not able to come to a decision on the proposal for listing Azhar on account of a member placing the proposal on hold.

The JeM had claimed responsibility for the Pulwama attacks in which 40 CRPF personnel were killed.

In yet another setback to India’s bid to designate Azhar as a global terrorist, China put a technical hold on the proposal in the UN Security Council to ban him.

A diplomat at the UN told PTI that China put a “technical hold”.