Condemning yesterday's terror attack in Pulwama, Youth Congress members in Bengaluru protest with slogans agai... Read More

NEW DELHI: Amid widespread anger over the Pulwama terror attack, India and the US will 'very soon' hold another round of dialogue on terrorist designation proposals. JeM chief Masood Azhar will figure prominently in the talks, official sources here said, with Indian authorities likely to push the US to bring another resolution for a UNSC ban on the terrorist who is an accused in the Pathankot airbase attack and who continues to operate with impunity from Pakistan.

India and the US had in 2017 launched a new consultation mechanism for domestic and international terrorist designations, as announced in the 2017 joint statement issued after PM Narendra Modi’s summit meet with President Donald Trump.

India sees US support in terrorist designation as evidence of US commitment to end terror in all its forms and manifestations. After China blocked a US backed proposal in 2017 to designate Azhar a global terrorist by the UN Security Council, the US has been wary of bringing another such proposal until the time it is assured of support from China. The US is aware that another resolution, in the face of unrelenting Chinese opposition, can at best be an exercise in occupying the moral high ground.

India itself has been reluctant to push China on Azhar in the recent past, focusing instead on improving ties with China after the Doklam standoff. While Beijing did express sympathy Friday for the Pulwama victims and declared that it strongly condemned all forms of terrorism, it remained non-committal to supporting India’s demand for an international ban on Azhar. Inclusion of Azhar in the UNSC sanctions list, as Indian officials have said in the past, would result in freezing of Azhar’s financial assets, block supply of funds to JeM and also expose Pakistan’s failure to check activities of terror groups targeting India.

The Pulwama attack though is certain to see India once again placing the Masood Azhar issue on top of its agenda with Beijing. While India has been trying to convince all that improved Sino-Indian relationship has been one of the highlights of its foreign policy in the past 12 months, the fact is that this 'thaw' has seen practically no concession from China not just on Azhar but also other issues like India's NSG membership bid and CPEC, the flagship BRI project which passes through the Gilgit-Baltistan region.

While India has been concerned about the Trump administration’s use of Pakistan authorities for its ongoing direct talks with the Taliban, which the US sees as essential for its withdrawal of troops, India is hoping that Washington will abide by its commitment to strengthen cooperation, as the 2017 statement said, Jaish-e-Mohammad, Lashkar-e-Tayyiba, D-Company, and their affiliates. The strongly worded joint statement had called on Pakistan to ensure that its territory was not used to launch terrorist attacks on other countries and also to bring to justice those accused of perpetrating 'cross-border' terrorist attacks.



In Video: China shields JeM chief Masood Azhar, India slams 'opaque' UNSC Sanctions Committees