India to continue efforts to get Masood Azhar listed as 'global terrorist'

India will show patience with China for "as long as it takes" but will not compromise its position on firmly dealing with terrorists, government sources said Saturday, days after Beijing blocked a fresh move at the UN to designate Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed's chief Masood Azhar as a global terrorist.

China has to resolve certain issues with Pakistan though it has adequate information that certain terror groups are operating from Pakistani soil and they are acting against Chinese interests as well, the sources said.

They said it was for China to resolve the issues with Pakistan, and India is ready  for a long-haul on the matter of listing of Azhar by the UN.

On Wednesday, China for the fourth time blocked the bid in the UN Security Council to designate Azhar by putting a technical hold on the proposal. The Chinese move was termed "disappointing" by India.

The sources said India is not going to make any compromise or cut any deal with any member nation of the UN Security Council or UN Sanctions Committee on designating Azhar as global terrorist.

They said 14 out of the 15 members of the UN Security Council (UNSC) supported India on the proposal to list Azhar as global terrorist while seven members were co-sponsoring the resolution.

India will not rest until Azhar is proscribed by the UN, they said.

The fresh proposal to designate Azhar under the 1267 Al Qaeda Sanctions Committee of the UN Security Council was moved by France, the UK and the US, in the wake of the Pulwama terror attack in which 40 CRPF personnel were killed.

JeM had claimed responsibility for the Pulwama attack.

The sources said terrorism was an issue "which is not-negotiable for India" and if China needed more time, New Delhi was ready to wait.

They said India was not going to approach the UN Security Council on the issue of Azhar and that if there was any other option to list Azhar, then it was for the members of the powerful body to explore.

The sources said India will also strictly monitor compliance of the Financial Action Task Force's (FATF) action plan by Pakistan in taking action against the terror groups operating from its soil including snapping flow of funds to them.

They said there was solid across-the-board support in the US for the way India conducted itself following the Pulwama terror attack.

On Pakistan living in denial over existence of terror groups on its soil, the sources said India is pretty content that Pakistan is spending its diplomatic and economic capital in defending the indefensible.

They also ruled out the possibility of any mediation by any country to resolve issues between India and Pakistan.

In 2009, India moved a proposal by itself to designate Azhar. In 2016 again India moved the proposal with the P3 - the United States, the United Kingdom and France in the UN's 1267 Sanctions Committee to ban Azhar, also the mastermind of the attack on the air base in Pathankot in January, 2016.

In 2017, the P3 nations moved a similar proposal again. However, on all occasions China, a veto-wielding permanent member of the UN Security Council, blocked India's proposal from being adopted by the Sanctions Committee.