China has made another attempt to block bids by India and the United States to block a Pakistan-based terrorist at the United Nations. The recent proposal was to blacklist Lashkar-e-Taiba leader Shahid Mahmood as a global terrorist.

This is the fourth instance in as many months that China has put a hold on the blacklisting of Pakistan-based terrorists at the world body.

According to the news agency PTI, China, an ally of Pakistan, placed a hold on the proposal by India and the US to designate Mahmood, 42, as a global terrorist under the 1267 Al Qaeda Sanctions Committee of the UN Security Council.

The US Treasury Department had. in 2016, designated Shahid Mahmood and LeT senior leader Muhammad Sarwar as global terrorists.

Who is Mahmood?

According to information on the US Department of the Treasury's website, Mahmood has been a longstanding senior LeT member based in Karachi, Pakistan. He has been affiliated with the group since at least 2007.

As early as June 2015 through at least June 2016, Mahmood served as the vice chairman of Falah-i-Insaniat Foundation (FIF), a humanitarian and fundraising arm of LeT.

In 2014, Mahmood was the leader of FIF in Karachi. In August 2013, Mahmood was identified as a LeT publications wing member, the website said.

Mahmood was previously part of LeT's overseas operations team led by Sajjid Mir.

In August 2013, Mahmood was instructed to forge covert links with Islamic organisations in Bangladesh and Burma. Of late 2011, Mahmood claimed that LeT's primary concern should be attacking India and America, the US Department of Treasury said.

China's earlier moves

In June this year, China put a hold on a joint proposal by India and the US to blacklist terrorist Abdul Rehman Makki under the 1267 Al-Qaeda Sanctions Committee of the UN Security Council.

Then in August, China again put a hold on a proposal to blacklist the senior leader of Jaish-e-Mohammed (JEM), Abdul Rauf Azhar.

In September, Beijing put a hold on a proposal moved at the UN to designate Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorist Sajid Mir as a global terrorist. Mir has been wanted for his involvement in the 26/11 Mumbai terrorist attacks.

The decision to hold comes at a time when UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is in India and has paid homage to the victims of the 26/11 attack in Mumbai. The Terror attack was carried out by LeT in which over 160 people, including American citizens, were killed.

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar had said in his address to the UN General Assembly session in September: "Those who politicise the UNSC 1267 Sanctions regime, sometimes even to the extent of defending proclaimed terrorists, do so at their peril. Believe me, they advance neither their interests nor indeed their reputation."

(With inputs from PTI)

First Published:Oct 19, 2022 2:11 PM IST