Masood Azhar episode in UN exposes China’s hypocrisy over terrorism
The larger US-China shadowboxing is the frame within which the tussle over Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar now plays out.
The latest turn of events may end up helping India achieve its end—getting Azhar proscribed as a global terrorist— without India having to lift a finger, overtly.
Beyond India’s dossier and Pakistan’s predictable denial that it can be considered actionable input, the issue of Azhar’s global redesignation via the UNSC seems to have acquired a life of its own.
The latest US move is to call China’s bluff through a resolution in the full UNSC—one that necessitates a discussion, which would force Beijing to reveal its exact position.
And not hide behind a ‘technical’ trifle, as it did in the UNSC’s 1267 Al-Qaeda sanction committee to veto the process initiated by France, UK and US earlier for the fourth time in a row.
The US intent now is to expose China’s hypocrisy in adopting a maximal approach vis-a-vis the rebellious Uyghur Muslims in its Xinjiang province—reported forced detentions, disregarding human rights—while according a protective umbrella globally to terror groups operating from the soil of its all-weather friend, Pakistan.
If China denounced the US move as a subversion of the UN committee’s mandate, Pakistan PM Imran Khan too was put in a quandary, having to deny any knowledge of the condition of Uyghur Muslims.
The latter is part of the roster of issues that exercises the global Muslim community. The long and short of it is that Beijing may have to abstain from the latest US resolution, rather than reveal its mind.
That would not only lead to the much-awaited blacklisting of the Jaish chief, it would mean China being isolated on a global platform, which is what the US seeks to see.
Since self-interest is the main mantra of today’s diplomacy, India will have little to complain.