Excellent Chinese move

China has taken the right approach to a move seeking to blacklist Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) leader Maulana Masood Azhar. Obviously, a wave of gloom pervades in the camps of Hindutva or ultra right political parties in India. For all the right reasons, China put on hold a request by Britain, France and the United States to add to the UN terror blacklist the leader of Jaish-e-Mohammad. It was the third time that the UN Security Council was considering a request to put Masood Azhar on the UN sanctions blacklist, which would subject him to a global travel ban and assets freeze.

China has plausibly contended that it needed more time to examine the issue while underscoring the need for talks to resolve issue. Once again the Chinese have demonstrated the prudence of the former ‘Middle Kingdom’. Chanakya mindset checkmated?

Quetta Saleem Baloch