India has taken up at a “fairly high level” with China the issue of Beijing blocking its bid to have JeM chief and Pathankot attack mastermind Masood Azhar as designated terrorist by the UN, foreign s
India has taken up at a “fairly high level” with China the issue of Beijing blocking its bid to have JeM chief and Pathankot attack mastermind Masood Azhar as designated terrorist by the UN, foreign secretary S. Jaishankar said on Wednesday. Asserting that India will continue to pursue the matter with China in the context of the UN, he also noted that the government has had a “backing and forthing” on the issue with the Chinese. “My sense is that the particular issue that you referred to is something we have taken up with the Chinese. We have taken it up at a sort of fairly high level and we will continue to pursue this with the Chinese,” Mr Jaishankar was quoted by news agencies as saying at an event in the capital. He was replying to a question during an interaction on India’s position on China blocking for the second time country’s bid at the UN to get Azhar banned.
Meanwhile, China on Wednesday re-asserted its stand saying that designation of any individual as terrorist by UN is a “serious issue” and there was a need for more evidence from India for better understanding to ban the JeM chief by the global body.
Deputy chief of mission and minister at the Chinese embassy Liu Jinsong justified China’s action and said his country can’t be the judge to decide who is right and who is wrong on the issue. Speculation is rife that a senior Indian diplomat may have spoken to the Chinese ambassador in New Delhi or the Indian envoy in Beijing may have raised the issue with the Chinese foreign office. But it is unclear whether a formal protest has been lodged by New Delhi over the matter with Beijing.
