NEW DELHI: Pakistan used China to pressurize Indonesia to defer a key meeting to May 6 to make sure that India’s government couldn’t stem political mileage from the issue, according to diplomats based in New York and New Delhi.
Pakistan took such steps amid the behind-the-scenes maneuvering which led to the blacklisting of Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) leader Masood Azhar by the United Nations, media reports said.
Indonesia is the chair of the 1267 Sanctions Committee.
Leading from the front, diplomats claimed, the United States gave China the first ultimatum of making a decision on lifting its technical hold on Azhar’s listing by April 23.
Following deliberation and with the pressure coming from countries including the UK, Russia and the UK, China communicated to its US interlocutors that it was prepared to hold a meeting of the 1267 Sanctions Committee on May 1.
It should be noted that China lifted the hold it had imposed on March 13 on Wednesday last week, in which UN the sanctions committee listed Azhar as a global terrorist.
Top Indian diplomats said Pakistan endeavored to intervene at the last moment by urging China to get Indonesia to postpone the sanctions committee meeting to May 6.
Meanwhile, some Chinese diplomats in New Delhi and New York had also tried to assess the impact if the listing was delayed to May 15. (Agencies)
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