Chinese envoy on Masood Azhar listing at UN: Optimistic that matter will be resolved

China's Ambassador to India Luo Zhaohui Sunday expressed optimism that the issue relating to India's push for designating Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed's chief Masood Azhar as a global terrorist by the UN would be resolved.

We are optimistic that this matter will be resolved, Luo said on the sidelines of an event at the Chinese embassy here when asked about China putting a hold on listing of Azhar by UN Security Council (UNSC) or UN Sanctions Committee on designating Azhar as global terrorist. On Wednesday, China for the fourth time blocked the bid in the UNSC to designate Azhar by putting a technical hold on the proposal.

The Chinese move was termed "disappointing" by India. It is only a technical hold which means consultations on the issue will continue, government sources said Saturday. The sources said India was "disappointed" with China for putting the technical hold on the proposal to designate Azhar as a global terrorist and will continue to pursue the matter with Beijing.

The Chinese envoy also referred to the informal summit between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping in April last year and said the cooperation between the two countries are on the "right track". We are quite optimistic about the future cooperation between the two countries, Luo said.

The fresh proposal to designate Azhar under the 1267 Al Qaeda Sanctions Committee of the UN Security Council was moved by France, the UK and the US, in the wake of the Pulwama terror attack in which 40 CRPF personnel were killed. The JeM had claimed responsibility for the Pulwama attack.

-PTI