NEW DELHI: The attack on the Pathankot air base has once again brought the focus back on terror group Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) and its mentor Maulana Masood Azhar . The efforts by the United Nations in the past to ban the JeM did not yield results due to China ’s intransigence on the matter at the behest of Pakistan.The JeM has been designated as a terrorist organisation in several countries, including Australia, Canada, India, the UAE, the UK and the US. It may be recalled that Maulana Masood Azhar, who formed Jaish-e-Mohammed and was released in December 1999 during a swap for passengers of hijacked Indian Airlines Flight IC-814, was suspected to be behind last Saturday’s attack. The JeM was also accused of attacking Parliament in 2001 and is alleged to have made a failed attempt on the life of then Pak President Pervez Musharraf.In 2009, India had impressed upon the UN Security Council to ban Azhar but China, one of the five permanent members of the group with Veto Powers, blocked the UNSC sanctions against the JeM chief, ostensibly at the behest of Pakistan. The then UPA government provided detailed information to China about Azhar’s involvement in terror activities in India and hoped that Beijing would support the move.China argued that it did not have the necessary information about Azhar’s involvement in terrorism. China had also used the “failed to provide sufficient information” alibi to block the UNSC sanctions against al-Akhtar Trust, a JeM front. In 2010, China placed on “technical hold” India’s request to name Azhar, and Abdur Rehman Makki and Azam Cheema of Lashkar on the 1267 sanctions list of the UN. However, the Pathankot attack may now again bring the focus back on the JeM at the UN high table. Officials indicated the process to censure groups like JeM and Lashkar-e-Taiba at the UN was a legal and ongoing one. They pointed to a recent unsuccessful effort by the US to censure LeT at the UN.Beijing is also blocking efforts to censure LeT at the UN. In mid-2015, China had blocked an effort by India to question Pakistan at the UN sanctions committee (as per resolution 1267) over the releaseof Zaki-ur-RehmanLakhvi, the LeT commander behind 26/11. It has argued that India has not provided “sufficient information” in support of its case. Beijing has thrice blocked India’s bids to get Jamaat-ud-Dawa added to the UNSC terror list (JuD was finally added to the list in December 2008). China also stalled India’s bid to get Hizbul Mujahideen’s Syed Salahuddinaddedtothe1267sanctions list in early 2015.The UNSC resolution 1267, adopted on October 15, 1999, on the situation in Afghanistan, designated Osama bin Laden and associates as terrorists and established a sanctions regime to cover individuals and entities associated with Al Qaeda, Osama bin Laden and/or the Taliban.