France Plans To Move UNSC Resolution To Ban JeM Chief Masood Azhar After Assuming Presidency From 1 March 

France is said to be considering a proposal to move a resolution in the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) seeking a ban on Masood Azhar after it assumes the Council’s presidency on 1 March (2019), reports NDTV.

Currently, Equatorial Guinea holds the rotating presidency of UNSC which will pass to France in the next few days. "France is focused on bringing individual listing requests of JeM terrorists to the 1267 Sanctions Committee soon," said a source to NDTV.

France is a permanent member of the 15-member Council along with the US, Russia, China and the UK. Only the permanent members of UNSC carry a veto. A single veto by any permanent member is capable of blocking a proposal of international significance.

Fourth Attempt

This will be the fourth such attempt to ban Masood Azhar and other JeM terrorist in the last ten years. JeM has claimed responsibility for the Pulwama terrorist attack that claimed the lives of 44 CRPF Indian jawans on 14 February (2019).

Three separate resolutions were proposed in the Council to ban Azhar in 2009, 2016 and 2017. While the France, UK and the US supported the resolution, on all occasions China blocked the attempt from being adopted by the Sanctions Committee.

However, it is still unclear how China, which is reported to be Pakistan's all-weather friend,' will vote this time. On the other hand, on 27 February (2019) Russia, China and India jointly agreed to combat terrorism through closer policy coordination.

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