China has for the fourth time blocked (put a technical hold) a proposal at the United Nations to designate Jaish-e-Mohammad chief Masood Azhar as a global terrorist. Standing solidly behind its ‘Iron Brother’ Pakistan , China ignored international efforts to clamp down on cross-border terrorism.This is a major setback to Indian efforts to proscribe the Pulwama mastermind under the 1267 Al Qaeda Sanctions Committee of the UN Security Council ( UNSC ).The ISIL (Da’esh) and Al-Qaida Sanctions Committee (1267 Sanctions Committee), upon completion of the no-objection period on 13 March 2019, was not able to come to a decision on the proposal for listing Mohammed Masood Azhar Alvi under the UN Sanctions regime, on account of a member placing the proposal on hold, MEA noted in a statement."We are disappointed by this outcome. This has prevented action by the international community to designate the leader of Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), a proscribed and active terrorist organization which has claimed responsibility for the terrorist attack in Jammu and Kashmir on 14 February 2019. We are grateful for the efforts of the Member States who moved the designation proposal and the unprecedented number of all other Security Council members as well as non-members who joined as co-sponsors. We will continue to pursue all available avenues to ensure that terrorist leaders who are involved in heinous attacks on our citizens are brought to justice," the MEA statement asserted.The proposal against Azhar was initiated by France and backed by the US and the UK. Russia, the other permanent member of the UNSC, also backed the move. Australia, Bangladesh, Germany, Poland, Italy, Japan and Belgium were among the cosponsors of the proposal. Other non permanent UNSC members also decided to support the move.Earlier, the entire UNSC had in a statement condemned the Pulwama terror strike and held Jaish reponsible for it. While the US strongly pushed India’s case with China, Russia tried its best to convince Beijing.“Azhar founded JEM in 1999. Azhar financially supported Jaish-e Mohammad since its founding. Azhar is a former leader of the terrorist group Harakat-ul-Mujahidin, aka Harakat-ul-Ansar... In 2008, JEM recruitment posters contained a call from Azhar for volunteers to join the fight in Afghanistan against western forces,” according to the evidence furnished by the P-3 (US, France and UK) at the UNSC.China, a permanent veto-wielding member of the UNSC and Pakistan’s “all-weather” ally, blocked previous attempts in 2009, 2016 and 2017.The ISIL (Da’esh) and Al-Qaida Sanctions Committee (1267 Sanctions Committee), upon completion of the no-objection period on 13 March 2019, was not able to come to a decision on the proposal for listing Mohammed Masood Azhar Alvi under the UN Sanctions regime, on account of a member placing the proposal on hold.We are disappointed by this outcome. This has prevented action by the international community to designate the leader of Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), a proscribed and active terrorist organization which has claimed responsibility for the terrorist attack in Jammu and Kashmir on 14 February 2019.We are grateful for the efforts of the Member States who moved the designation proposal and the unprecedented number of all other Security Council members as well as non-members who joined as co-sponsors.We will continue to pursue all available avenues to ensure that terrorist leaders who are involved in heinous attacks on our citizens are brought to justice.