Chinese envoy says Masood Azhar's "matter will be resolved"

Beijing : Chinese ambassador Luo Zhaohui on Sunday assured that despite the fact China did not support call to tag Masood Azhar as global terrorist at the UNSC, the matter will be "resolved". Beijing had said its technical block was meant to buy time so the matter could be discussed and a considered step could be taken.

With UNSC designating Masood Azhar as global terrorist, all his assets will be freezed and a travel ban will be imposed. The Jaish chief - whose terror group has taken responsibility for the suicide attack in Pulwama that killed 40 CRPF men - gets a free run in Pakistan.

Today, at a function to celebrate Holi at his residence, Ambassador Luo Zhaohui said, "This matter (Masood Azhar on UNSC 1267 list) will be resolved. This is only a technical hold, which means there is time for continued consultations. It will be resolved believe me".

"Regarding Masood Azhar, we fully understand and we fully believe this matter," he said, adding China understands India's concerns and he was optimistic that the matter would be resolved.

China had raised objections on tagging Masood Azhar as 'global terrorist'. The same was done in 2009 and 2016. In 2017, Beijing blocked a move by the US, the UK and France to designate Azhar as a global terrorist by the UN.

This time, in an unusually tough message, a US diplomat at the United Nations, said Beijing "should not protect terrorists from Pakistan or any other country" if it is serious about its stated goal of combatting terrorism. Members, he said, "may be forced to pursue other actions" if this continues. He, however, did not explain what the actions may be.