US moves draft resolution directly in UNSC to blacklist Masood Azhar

TIL Desk/World/UN/ Stepping up the international pressure to designate Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar as a global terrorist, the United States, supported by France and the United Kingdom, has directly moved a draft resolution in the United Nations Security Council to blacklist the Pakistan-based terror group’s chief.

Two weeks after China put a hold on a proposal to list Azhar under the 1267 Al Qaeda Sanctions Committee of the Council, the US on Wednesday circulated the draft resolution to the powerful 15-nation Council to blacklist the leader of the terror group and subject him to a travel ban, an assets freeze and an arms embargo.

UN sources told that this is the ‘first time’ the US, the UK and France have moved a draft resolution directly in the Security Council to designate Azhar. The previous have been listing proposals in the Sanctions Committee of the Security Council to designate the JeM chief.

Unlike a listing proposal, which is generally under a 10-day no objection period, the draft resolution is not under any no-objection provision. Reacting to Washington’s move, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang in Beijing said: “This is not in line with resolution of the issue through dialogue and negotiations.