"Act Cautiously," China Tells US After Its Move On Masood Azhar At UN

Masood Azhar's Jaish-e-Mohammed claimed responsibility for the Pulwama terror attack

China on Thursday accused the US of undermining the authority of the UN anti-terror committee by "forcefully moving" a resolution at the UN Security Council to list Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar as a global terrorist. America's move only "complicates" the issue, said Beijing, which was seen as a hint by many that China would continue to block the move.

The US, supported by France and the UK, has moved a draft resolution at the UN Security Council to blacklist the Pakistan-based terror group's chief, two weeks after China put a hold on a proposal to list Masood Azhar under the 1267 Al Qaeda Sanctions Committee of the Council.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told a media briefing: "This is not in line with resolution of the issue through dialogue and negotiations. This has reduced the authority of the committee as a main anti-terrorism body of the UNSC and this is not conducive to the solidarity and only complicates the issue. We urge the US to act cautiously and avoid forcefully moving forward this resolution draft."

The US has circulated a resolution - drafted with British and French support - to the 15-member council that will designate JeM leader Masood Azhar, subjecting him to an arms embargo, travel ban and asset freeze.

JeM has claimed responsibility for a February 14 attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama that killed at least 40 CRPF personnel, making it the deadliest in Kashmir during a 30-year-long insurgency.

The United States, Britain and France initially asked the Security Council's ISIS and al Qaeda sanctions committee, which operates by consensus, to blacklist Masood Azhar. However, China prevented the move.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said that China had conducted a "comprehensive and thorough evaluation" but still needed more time to consider the proposal. China had previously prevented the committee from sanctioning Azhar in 2016 and 2017.

JeM was blacklisted by the UN Security Council in 2001. In December 2001, Jaish fighters, along with members of another Pakistan-based terrorist group, Lashkar-e-Taiba, attacked India's parliament, which almost led to a fourth war between the two countries.