"It is unfortunate that the sanctions committee has been prevented from playing its role due to political considerations," Indian Government sources said.
China on Wednesday placed a hold on a joint proposal of the United States and India to list Pakistan-based terrorist Abdul Rauf Azhar, one of the masterminds of the Indian Airlines Flight 814 hijack, under the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) sanctions.
This was the second time that Beijing used its veto in support of terror and all-weather friend Pakistan.
In June, the country had placed a hold on a joint proposal of the US and India to designate Pakistan-based terrorist Abdul Rehman Makki, US-designated terrorist and brother-in-law of Lashkar-e-Taiba head and 26/11 mastermind Hafiz Saeed.
Makki has been involved in raising funds, recruiting and radicalizing youths to resort to violence, and planning attacks in India, including the Mumbai terror attacks (2008).
'China’s actions expose its double speak': Govt sources
"There is incontrovertible evidence for both these listing proposals. Both individuals have also been sanctioned by the US under its domestic legislation.
It is unfortunate that the sanctions committee has been prevented from playing its role due to political considerations," Indian Government sources said after the proposal against Abdul Rauf Azhar, also known as Rauf Asghar was blocked.
"China’s actions expose its double speak and double standards when it comes to the international community’s shared battle against terrorism. Such politically motivated actions by China, in nearly every listing case of a Pak-based terrorist, undermine the entire sanctity of the working methods of the UNSC Sanctions Committees," sources added.
About Abdul Rauf Azhar
Abdul Rauf Azhar, is the brother of Jaish-e-Mohammad founder and leader Masood Azhar.
He is said to have been the main conspirator who planned and executed the hijacking of the IC814 travelling from Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu, Nepal to Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi on December 24, 1999, as well as the attack on the Indian Parliament (2001) and the attack on the Indian Air Force base in Pathankot (2016).
The last-minute hold was put by Beijing on a proposal moved to subject Abdul Azhar to a global travel ban and asset freeze.
All other 14 member states of the UN Security Council were supportive of the listing proposal.
However, such a move has to be agreed upon by all 15 members of a Security Council sanctions committee.
A veto-wielding permanent member of the UNSC, China was also the sole hold-out in the 15-nation body on the bid to blacklist Masood Azhar.
In May 2019, India registered a huge diplomatic win at the UN when the global body designated Azhar as a ''global terrorist", a decade after New Delhi first approached the world body and despite China's attempts to place a ''technical hold''.
