The US did not budge, following which China sent in a written assurance with the date last week. The space for negotiations, sources said, opened up after China decided that it did not want the matter to come up for a vote in the UNSC

NEW DELHI: China wanted to delay terror designation of Maulana Masood Azhar until after May 15 citing the Lok Sabha elections in India but was forced to advance the date after the United States refused to budge beyond April 30.

ET has reliably gathered that France, Russia and the UK finally brokered an understanding by which China got its way to the extent that the designation was done in May but not on the date Beijing indicated.

The deal was brokered about three weeks back but Washington insisted on a written assurance before April 23. Separately, ET has learnt, India told the US that it would prefer a negotiated settlement with China than have Beijing veto the entire effort.


The US then said it would not wait until beyond a week starting April 23. China indicated May 6 as a revised date. The US did not budge. And finally May 1 was settled as the date for China to lift the hold. At US insistence, sources said, China sent in a written assurance with the date last week.

The space for negotiations, sources said, opened up after China decided that it did not want the matter to come up for a vote in the UNSC. This is when the US put April 23 as the deadline.

The starting point of this effort was the UN statement condemning the Pulwama attack. This was the first time that the UN had condemned a terror attack in Kashmir and that too on security personnel.

China resisted this, delayed the statement by bringing in changes to the description of the attack but eventually agreed. This formed the basis for India to work on the US and France to submit a fresh bid to designate Azhar a global terrorist. China had blocked all previous efforts at Pakistan’s behest.

Predictably, China put a technical hold to the proposal within the 1267 UN sanctions committee in a show of support to Pakistan. This time the US decided to take on China after consultations with India on the matter.

The rules of the 1267 committee provide for negotiations among members in case of a disagreement. But if this remains unresolved, any permanent UNSC member can take it to the Security Council for a vote.

The US decided to exercise this option, circulated a draft proposal and put April 23 as the deadline for China to change its mind. A vote would have forced China to veto designation of Azhar in case it wanted to help Pakistan. However, that would have meant a loss of face given that all other 14 members of the UNSC were in India’s favour. At this point, China agreed for negotiations, thus opening up the possibility of a deal which it had hoped would happen after the elections in India were concluded, said sources.

Brothers & brothers-in-law in JeM Second Generation
(i) Muhammad Tahir (elder brother), senior functionary



(ii) Ibrahim Azhar (elder brother), operational commander, supervising Afghanistan operations



(iii) Mufti Abdul Rauf Asghar (younger brother), de-facto amir (head) of JeM, operational head



(iv) Talha Saif (younger brother), chief editor, publication wing; head of Al Murabitoon (student wing)



(v) Mohammad Ammar (younger brother), supervising Al-Qalam weekly publication



(vi) Maulana Yousuf Azhar (brotherin-law), amir, Markaz Syed Ahmad Shaheed, Balakot, Mansehra



(vii) Abdul Rasheed (brother-in-law), incharge of administration and training, Markaz Usman-o-Ali, Bahawalpur



(viii) Mohammad Annas@Allah Ditta (brother-in-law), incharge of store at Markaz Usman-o-Ali, Bahawalpur



(ix) Mansoor Ahmed (brother-inlaw), incharge of defence wing, Markaz Usman-o-Ali, Bahawalpur



(x) Hafi z Jameel (brother-in-law), looking after overall affairs of Markaz Subhan Allah, Bahwalpur



 (i) Abdullah, S/o Maulana Masood Azhar, involved in Afghanistan and J&K



(ii) Waliullah@Wali, younger son of Maulana Masood Azhar, undergoing Jihadi training



(iii) Eldest son of Mohd Tahir Anwar involved in JeM’s Afghanistan operations



(iv) Usman Haider@Usman Ibrahim, S/o Ibrahim Azhar, killed in encounter in Tral, J&K



(v) Muhammad Umar, S/o Ibrahim Azhar, killed in gun battle in J&K



(vi) Huzaifa, adopted S/o Ibrahim Azhar, undertook Jihadi training in Markaz Usman-o-Ali, Bahawalpur



(vii) Talha Rasheed, S/o Abdul Rasheed, killed in gun battle in Pulwama



(viii) Osama, S/o Yousuf Azhar, looks after miscellaneous affairs at Markaz Usman-o-Ali; was earlier involved in operations in Afghanistan



(ix) Attaullah Kashif, S/o Hafi z Jameel, associated with JeM’s Markaz as preacher/motivator

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