Anubhi Saxena
NEW DELHI: As China again jammed a UN resolution to appoint JeM chief a ‘global terrorist’, Congress president Rahul Gandhi Thursday hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying he was weak and scared of Chinese President Xi Jinping as he has not spoken a single word against China for blocking Masood Azhar’s listing as a global terrorist.
Rahul Gandhi questioned the silence of Modi at China blocking efforts by India and its global partners, US and France to designate Masood Azhar as global terrorist. The party charged the BJP of allowing Masood off the hook again and also asked Modi what was the use of “swinging” with Xi. India’s proposal to nominate the Pakistan-based terror group Jaish chief as a global terrorist tortured a setback with China on Wednesday putting a pause on a proposal to ban him following the Pulwama terror attack. The observation by Gandhi came after the continuous efforts by India and its global partners, including the US and France.
China put up the China-Pak Economic Corridor from end to end of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and Balochistan to link the Gwadar Port to China, but the BJP last still, claiming that the party was also silent on China mining on the border with Arunachal Pradesh and setting out to build tunnels.
“China blocking Masood Azhar’s designation as global terrorist reaffirms Chinese position of being an inseparable ally of terrorism’s breeding ground-Pakistan,” Randeep Surjewala tweeted Wednesday.
The Congress has also been attacking the BJP over Azhar’s release in the 1999 Kandahar hijacking case, with Gandhi asking Modi to tell the nation that it was a BJP-led government which set free the terrorist from an Indian jail in that year. Azhar and two other terrorists, Mushtaq Ahmed Zargar and Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, were released from an Indian prison in 1999 by the then BJP-led government headed by Atal Bihari Vajpayee in exchange for the passengers held hostage on board IC-814 flight hijacked to Kandahar in Afghanistan.
The Bharatiya Janata Party took on the issue and attacked Gandhi reminding him that Beijing’s berth in the powerful UNSC was a present by India’s first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru who is the great grand father of RaGa. China on Wednesday blocked the UNSC’s move to step out against Masood Azhar by putting on the technical hold using its Veto power.
An MEA statement on Wednesday night termed UNSC failure to promote Masood Azhar as global terrorist as disappointment. The government, has however said that New Delhi will continue to pursue all available avenues to ensure that terrorist leaders who are involved in heinous attacks on “our citizens are brought to justice”.
