China has blocked India’s request to add the head of the Pakistan-based militant group Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) to a UN Security Council blacklist of groups linked to al Qaeda. India has accused JeM and its top leader, Maulana Masood Azhar, of masterminding several attacks, including a deadly assault on an Indian air base in January. Following the Pathankot incident, Pakistani security officials interrogated Azhar and his associates and said they found no evidence linking him to it. The 15-nation Security Council has already blacklisted JeM, but not Azhar, a hardliner and long-time foe of India. IndianForeign Ministry spokesman VikasSwarup said that India had requested that Azhar be added to the list nine months ago, and had received strong backing from all other members of the council except China. Swarup added that the inability of the international community to take the step showed the prevalence of double standards in the fight against terrorism.

India has long accused its neighbour, and rival Pakistan of using Jaish-e-Mohammad as a proxy to mount attacks on Indian soil, including in the disputed Kashmir region, and earlier gave what it called “actionable intelligence” to Pakistan, including telephone intercepts. For India, China’s decision to block Indian request might come as a setback to their efforts with regards to isolating Pakistan following the recent severing of ties between the two countries. Recently, at the last BRICS summit, both China and Russia had also refused to term Pakistan as a terrorist state, denting India’s hopes in this regard. Despite its apprehensions and reservations, India should not be using the issue as a cover to the Kashmir situation.

For Pakistan, it might be a win against India in terms of India’s efforts to isolate Pakistan and term it as a terrorist state; Masood Azhar is not the person it should be protecting in this regard. There is no reason to protect a person whose organisation has been internationally banned for links to banned outfits as well as involvement in terrorist acts. Similarly, many other anti-India elements remain scot-free despite hurling open threats and allegations of running banned organisations with superficial names. At the moment, Pakistan is severely reliant on China in this regard. But there will come a time when even Pakistan will have to provide reasons to China for giving protection to such elements.

The recent diplomatic efforts from Pakistan following the unrest in Kashmir, Pakistan had sent delegates to world power capitals for highlighting the plight of Kashmir. But they had received a cold response from everywhere due to Pakistan’s dubious image in the international arena. Using the likes of China in the decision of Azhar further cement these fears in the eyes of western powers, with India being a strong ally of most of these countries. Since the beginning of the war against terror, the Western nations, especially the US, have been asking Pakistan to leave the dubious policy of compartmentalization and go against all the terrorist outfits without any discrimination. Although Islamabad continues to deny such allegations, events like these only further refute its stance. *