Islamabad: (Agencies): The United Nations Security Council’s (UNSC) Sanctions Committee on Wednesday declared Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) Chief Masood Azhar as global terrorist.
According to details, the Sanctions Committee 1267 of the UNSC designated Masood Azhar among banned individuals on its global terror list, placing a restriction on foreign travel, arms embargo and freezing of assets.
Briefing the media on Wednesday, Foreign Office Spokesperson Dr Muhammad Faisal said listing of Maulana Masood Azhar on UN sanctions Committee had been agreed after all political references, including removing of attempts to link it with Pulwama incident and maligning Kashmiris struggle for their right to self-determination.
He said UN Security Council's Sanction Committee listed Maulana Masood Azhar today, which entails a ban on foreign travel, asset freeze, and arms embargo.
Dr Faisal said listing of Maulana Masood Azhar has been under consideration in the Sanction Committee since 2009.
“Azhar has been proscribed under Pakistan's anti-terrorism act for some time even before taking up his case by the Sanctions committee, the FO spokesperson said.
He added that UNSC 1267 Sanctions Committee listing is governed by clear rules and is based on strict technical criteria and it takes all decisions through consensus.
“Pakistan has always advocated the need for respecting these technical rules and regulations and has opposed the politicisation of the Sanctions Committee, he asserted.
The spokesperson said over the last few years, many states, including Pakistan have been concerned at an increasing trend of politicization of this Committee, including attempts to include matters that are unrelated to the technical criteria.
On February 27, US, France and UK had presented a resolution demanding a ban on Azhar, on which China had raised an objection on technical basis.
China’s Foreign Ministry on the subject said: “China has been communicating with relevant parties in a constructive and responsible fashion. Recently, relevant countries revised and re-submitted the materials for the listing proposal to the 1267 Committee. 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.”
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang, in his comments on the lifting of technical hold and approval of Azhar’s listing by the Sanctions Committee, noted that the negotiations with the movers of the proscription bid were carried out “in a constructive and responsible fashion” after which they “revised and re-submitted the materials for the listing proposal to the 1267 Committee”.
“After careful study of the revised materials and taking into consideration the opinions of relevant parties, China does not have objection to the listing proposal,” he added.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman said that Pakistan has made great contributions for countering terrorism and it deserves full recognition of the international community. The statement said that China will continue to firmly support Pakistan’s efforts to combat terrorist forces.
In March, China had blocked a resolution in the UN seeking a ban Masood Azhar.
According to a note issued by China’s UN mission to the concerned UN Security Council Committee, China placed a “technical hold” on the request, made by the United States, Britain and France to subject Maulana Masood Azhar to an arms embargo, travel ban and asset freeze.
China had also blocked a similar move three times in the past.