China on Wednesday said the issue of blacklisting Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) terror outfit chief Masood Azhar at the United Nation (UN) panel has progressed and headed towards the settlements, and asked the United States to halt forcing Beijing through its resolutions over the matter.
According to news reports, China also dismissed reports that the US, France and the United Kingdom has asked Beijing to lift a technical hold on JeM chief by April 23, failing to which they will move the UNSC (United Nations security council) panel for discussions, votes and passage.
Chinese foreign ministry Lu Kang stated, “On the issue of the listing of Masood Azhar, China’s position remains unchanged. We are also having communication with relevant parties and the matter is moving towards the direction of the settlement.”
He said the matter was now moving in the direction of the settlement, as to the specifics for the discussion in the 1267 committee “we think members should follow and abide by such procedures”.
Kang said China hopes that the relevant nations could respect the different opinions of most members of the UNSC to act in a cooperative way and to assist resolve this issue properly within the framework of the 1267 committee.
On April 2, China has reported a “positive progress” over a move to listing Azhar as UN-designated global terrorist. Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang said, “After the application for designation of Azhar was proposed, China is in close communication and coordination with various parties and made positive progress.”
China’s foreign ministry said the “technical hold” would be beneficial for parties as they were being provided with more time to study the case and review the Pulwama terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir, which claimed the lives of 44 CRPF personnel on February 14 – the suicide bombing attack which JeM chief Masood Azhar globally claimed to have the responsibility.
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