China eludes India again in its bid to list JeM chief Masood Azhar as global terrorist

New Delhi: Declining India’s demand of supporting its bid of listing Pakistan based JeM chief Masood Azhar as a global terrorist by the United Nations, China clarified that there is no change in its position on the request. China said that it will decide on the issue on the “merits of the matter”. India had asked China to back its pending application in the United States seeking to designate Azhar as a global terrorist, on Monday during the first India-China high-level meeting on bilateral security cooperation. The Monday meeting was held in New Delhi and was co-chaired by Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Zhao Kezhi, State Councilor and Minister of Public Security, China. China which has a veto power as a permanent member of the UN Security Council, has repeatedly blocked India’s bid to list Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Azhar as a global terrorist. When asked to comment on India's request, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said she has to check the specific details of the talks between the two ministers, news agency PTI reported. "As per to India's request for the listing of Masood (Azhar) we already stated our position for many times," she was quoted as saying by the agency. "On the counter terrorism issue, China has always actively participated in international anti-terrorist operations. We have always made our decisions and judgements on the merits of the matter itself and w e will continue to step up the security cooperation to uphold the regional peace and stability with parties," she said. Masood  Azhar is accused of several deadly terrorist attacks in India, including one on the Uri military base in Kashmir in 2016 in which 17 security personnel were killed. Citing lack of consensus among the members of the Council, China has blocked India's efforts to designate Azhar under the Al-Qaeda Sanctions Committee of the UN Security Council. On reports that India has requested China to not to give shelter to hard-line United Liberation Front Of Assam (ULFA) leader Paresh Baruah, Hua said, "I shall stress that the Chinese government has always adhered to the principle of non-interference in the internal affairs of other countries. This remains unchanged." (With inputs from  PTI)