China puts on hold India, US move to blacklist Hafiz Saeed's son at UN

New Delhi, October 19

China has yet again blocked a joint move by India and the US to sanction two Pakistan-based terrorists at the UNSC. One of them is the son of Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) founder Hafiz Saeed.

Beijing’s fourth and fifth blocking since June this year ironically took place just before UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres participated in a ceremony in Mumbai to pay tribute to victims of the 2008 terrorist attacks by the LeT, whose leader India and the US sought to proscribe.

The US Treasury Department had declared Mahmood a “specially designated global terrorist” in 2016 for his significant role in LeT’s overseas operations in Bangladesh, Myanmar, Syria and Turkey. India and the US had proposed his listing under the 1,267 Al-Qaeda Sanctions Committee of the UNSC. Earlier, China had blocked proposals to designate LeT leader Abdul Rehman Makki (June), Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) leader Abdul Rauf Azhar (August) and LeT’s Sajid Mir (September). A UNSC Permanent Member like China has the privilege to put a “technical hold” to stop listings. It can last up to six months at a time. It will be interesting to see what China will do after Makki’s hold expires in December.

The last blocking by China was of Mir who is wanted for the 26/11 massacre. Pakistan had earlier claimed that Mir had died.