In 1994, Masood Azhar entered India via Bangladesh on a Portuguese passport, and began a 25-year-long career fomenting terror in this country. The lowest point for India came when the Vajpayee government gave him up to Pakistan (then, as now, operating through the Taliban) in the IC-814 hostage exchange.25 years and many terror attacks later, Azhar was this week designated a global terrorist by the UN. The designation, which comes with asset freeze, travel ban and arms embargo, is primarily a geopolitical and diplomatic victory. On the ground, however, Azhar will probably continue to run tame in Pakistan, just as Hafiz Saeed of LeT has, despite being designated so a decade ago. After the Balakot strikes , Indian intelligence has traced him to an establishment “safe house” in Islamabad Nevertheless, Azhar’s designation became a thrilling game of geo-political chess which ended with the western alliance of US-France-UK beating down Chinese resistance. Ultimately, on May 1, China lifted its hold on a UNSC 1267 Committee to proscribe the JeM chief.Although India attempted the first listing in 2009, it went nowhere. With Pathankot, Uri and Nagrota attacks by JeM coming thick and fast in 2016, India attempted another listing. China started what would become a familiar routine — put a “technical hold” on the proposal, before blocking it three months later. In 2017, the proposal was made by the US-UKFrance trio, and met with the same fate.China used the block to shore up its “lips-and-teeth” relationship with Pakistan, which has now become China’s premier ally in the world. China also used it to insert itself in the India-Pakistan dynamic, by asking India repeatedly to negotiate directly with Pakistan, a ploy also intended to achieve equivalence between India and Pakistan. By this time, India had ceased all official contact with Pakistan, and refused to fall for the China line.For India, which went back again and again to the Azhar listing issue, it was a lowcost way of publicly forcing China to shield a terrorist and a terror-sponsoring state. India could have gone on, whittling away China’s credibility internationally.But in April 2018, Wuhan summit happened. For the next 10 months, as India tried to keep the mythical “Wuhan spirit” alive, India also dropped all references to Azhar in the UN.It took the Pulwama attack on February 14 for the Azhar reference to be resurrected in the UNSC, again by France, together with the US and the UK. But first, some groundwork was needed — a clear unequivocal statement by the UN Security Council condemning the attack. That took a week, with major jostling behind closed doors. Just for comparison, a similar Pak-sponsored attack in Iran evoked a UNSC condemnation within 48 hours. But when it came, the statement broke new ground — it was the first ever to condemn terrorism in J&K; China’s attempts to describe it as “Indian administered Kashmir” failed and, in the teeth of Chinese opposition, the statement named Jaish-e-Mohammed as the perpetrator. The statement went far in squeezing China’s diplomatic space.Nevertheless, when the US-led trio listed Azhar again in the UNSC, China blocked it on March 14. The game started. US and France declared they would adopt “other means”. France took the matter to the European Union after putting sanctions on Azhar at the national level. The US said they would bypass the Sanctions Committee and go for a resolution in the full UNSC.This would force China to either fall in line or veto it — vetoing it would expose China as a terror-hugger. It’s not the image a presumptive superpower would want.China and US got into hectic negotiations, with talks happening in Beijing, Washington and New York. China was given a deadline of April 23 to come to a decision.China wanted India to de-escalate conflict on the border, open dialogue with Pakistan and commit to not striking Pakistan. India refused.The Pulwama attack and Balakot strikes demonstrated two things — one, there was international sympathy for India as a victim of Paksponsored terror, and two, that any muscular/military response to Pakistan would be justified as self-defence.By mid-April, China had come around to accepting that they would have to lift their hold, under sustained US pressure. France played good cop to the US’s bad cop. In Washington, the US told India to organise support from all other members of the UN Security Council. Indian diplomats in Washington and New York went to work. India’s Permanent Representative at the UN, Syed Akbaruddin, held centerstage in the hectic diplomacy, sometimes taking to Twitter to counsel patience. By the third week of April, all other countries had been listed as supporters.The question was the timing. China wanted the listing to be done on May 15. The US stuck to April 23. It was left to the redoubtable skills of the Indonesian envoy to the UNSC Dian Triansyah Djani to bring the issue to a conclusion. He pushed for a decision by May 1, virtually splitting the difference. It must be remembered that India cast a crucial vote for Indonesia’s election to the UNSC in 2018.But a concession to China had to be made, because as a diplomat explained, “everybody must been seen to have gained something.”Hence, the removal of Pulwama from the UN statement. For India, it was the listing of Masood Azhar, a diplomatic win against China and a strike againts the Pak-China nexus. For the US, it was a win-win, keeping India on its side and China on its toes. France is shaping up as India’s go-to UNSC P-5 friend, taking over slowly from Russia.Banning Masood Azhar was a big win for India. Narendra Modi is the political beneficiary.