In recent years, China has frustrated attempts to get Azhar sanctioned in 2016, 2017 and again in 2019 after the Pulwama attack. Azhar will be subject to assets freeze, travel ban and arms embargo.
The UN statement says Azhar has been placed on the sanctions list “for participating in the financing, planning, facilitating, preparing, or perpetrating of acts or activities by, in conjunction with, under the name of, on behalf of, or in support of”, ‘supplying, selling or transferring arms and related material to’, ‘recruiting for’, ‘otherwise supporting acts or activities of’, and ‘other acts or activities indicating association with Jaish-e-Mohammed.” JeM itself was listed on October 17, 2001.
Welcoming the designation, MEA spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said it was a “step in the right direction”. “This is in accordance with the information India has shared with the members of the Sanctions Committee regarding terrorist activities of Masood Azhar and the Jaish-e-Muhammed.” The lack of any mention Pulwama attack is seen as a concession to China though officials who negotiated pointed out that Beijing had blocked a ban in 2016 and 2017 as well.
Wednesday’s decision is the outcome of hectic negotiations between France, the UK, the US and China over the past month, with officials meeting in Beijing and New York to hammer out an agreement. The 1267 Sanctions Committee works by consensus so China had to be on board. India is not a member of the UNSC, therefore not in the committee either, but has worked diplomatic channels, including a recent visit by foreign secretary Vijay Gokhale to Beijing. For India, the listing is important. JeM has openly claimed responsibility for the Pulwama attack. It took the UNSC a whole week to issue a statement condemning the attack — a statement that for the first time in UN history mentioned Kashmir as the theatre of terrorism.
For Pakistan, the statement on Pulwama compromises the “integrity of the uprising”, and this was what China sought to paper over in Wednesday’s listing. During the negotiations, China insisted on Pulwama being kept out. However, diplomatic sources said that the entire move was in the context of the attack. “Everybody had to come out with something,” said diplomats directly involved with the negotiations.
The first statement welcoming the UN designation came from France, which is the current president of the UN Security Council, and has been at the forefront of the effort. “For many years now, French diplomacy has been relentlessly pleading for sanctioning Mr Azhar, head of the terrorist group responsible, notably, for the Pulwama attack last February.”
The Chinese foreign ministry said it had lifted the “hold” but urged technical issues should not be politicised. “After careful study of the revised materials and taking into consideration the opinions of relevant parties concerned, China does not have objection to the listing proposal,” the foreign ministry spokesperson said.
China found its support to Pakistan becoming increasingly untenable. After Pulwama, but more specifically, after Balakot, the US, UK and France took up the issue with renewed interest. In the past, China has tried to use this to push India to open talks with Pakistan. India has refused. More recently, China asked India to “de-escalate” on the border — these were the days of heavy exchange of fire post-Balakot on the LoC but without success.
China is also getting nervous about Pakistan’s parlous economy and security conditions, the possibility of it being blacklisted by the FATF. Later this year, China is expected to head the FATF as well, which may not be the comfort that Islamabad is seeking.