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China expected to lift hold on listing of JeM chief Azhar, to be designated global terrorist on May 1: Report

China is expected to lift its hold on blacklisting Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) chief Masood Azhar at a UN sanctions committee on May 1, reported the Hindustan Times.

“May Day is going to be the death knell for Masood Azhar, as he will be designated as a global terrorist by the UN’s Islamic State and al-Qaeda Sanctions Committee, with Beijing caving in to the global demand led by the US, France and the UK that the main orchestrator of the Pulwama attack be brought to book,” said a senior official who asked not to be named.

“China is expected to lift the technical hold which it had placed on March 13 on the proposal by the US, the UK and France, with all other Security Council members approving the move,” he added.

The report added that while there were reports suggesting that Beijing wanted to lift the hold around May 15, the other members of the UN Security Council, led by the US, have made it clear that time was running out for China and its all-weather ally Pakistan on the issue of Azhar.

On Sunday, Pakistan has said that they are ‘open to the listing’ of Jaish Chief Masood Azhar as long as he is not related to the Pulwama attack, reported the News 18. 

According to the report, the statement was given by Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs Spokesperson Mohammad Faisal on a Pakistani TV show, Islamabad Views, on Sunday.

“(India should) give evidence that Masood Azhar had anything to do with the attack in Pulwama. If that is not the case, then we can discuss the listing. It is not a big issue,” Faisal said. Stating that the Pulwama attack was a separate issue, Faisal said that his country had said, several times, that India was trying to “suppress” the indigenous uprising in Jammu and Kashmir.

Recently, China told the United States to hold its resolution on Masood Azhar, saying that the matter was ‘moving in direction of settlement’.

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