India slams 'unresponsive' UNSC for not sanctioning Masood Azhar

India strongly criticised an “unresponsive” Security Council on Wednesday for being indecisive on sanctioning leaders of organisations it itself designates as terrorist entities after China extended its “technical hold” on India’s bid for a UN ban against JeM chief Masood Azhar.

India’s Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador Syed Akbaruddin told the UN General Assembly that the 15-nation Security Council, the “principal organ” tasked with the maintenance of peace and security, has in a variety of ways become “unresponsive to the needs of our time and ineffective to meeting the challenges it is confronted with”.

Without naming China, Akbaruddin referred to its technical hold on India’s bid against Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Azhar, saying the Council is a body that “ponders for six months on whether to sanction leaders of organisations it has itself designated as terrorist entities”.

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“Then, unable to decide, it gives itself three more months to further consider this issue. One has to expectantly wait for nine months before the process is completed to know if Council members have decided on a single issue,” he said in the General Assembly debate on the Report of the Secretary General on the Work of the Organisation here.

On March 31 this year, China – a veto-wielding permanent member of the Security Council - had blocked India’s move to put a ban on Azhar under the Al-Qaeda Sanctions Committee of the Council.

China was the sole member in the 15-nation UN organ to put a hold on India’s application with all other 14 members of the Council supporting New Delhi’s bid to place Azhar on the 1267 sanctions list that would subject him to an assets freeze and travel ban.

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The Chinese technical hold had lapsed on Monday, and had China not raised further objection, the resolution designating Azhar as a terrorist would have been passed automatically.  However, Beijing on Saturday announced the extension of its “technical hold”.

“The extended technical hold on it will allow more time for the Committee to deliberate on the matter and for relevant parties to have further consultations,” foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang had said in Beijing.

Akbaruddin said in certain instances, the Council does not even begin the nine-month process of identification and listing of publicly announced leaders of listed entities.

“At best, it is now a body that can be described as an interesting and random mix of ad-hocism, scrambling and political paralysis. This global governance architecture now calls for comprehensive reform,” the Indian envoy said.