Swaraj raises Masood Azhar issue with Chinese counterpart

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj has raised the issue of China blocking India's bid at UN to ban Masood Azhar with her Chinese counterpart Wang Yi on Monday.

Swaraj met Wang on the sidelines of annual Foreign Ministers' meeting of Russia, India and China here.

Vikas Swarup, Official Spokesperson Ministry of External Affairs tweeted, "First bilateral of the day in Moscow before RIC Session: EAM @SushmaSwaraj meets her Chinese counterpart Wang Yi."

India had criticised the use of hidden veto by China, blocking its bid at the United Nations (U.N.) to ban Jaish-e-Mohammad chief Masood Azhar.

Following that Swarup had said, "India is in constant touch with China on the matter. The issue has already been taken up at high level. There cannot be two sets of rules for judging terrorists."

After the attack on the Pathankot airbase in January, India had in February written to the U.N. calling for immediate action to list Masood Azhar under the U.N. Sanctions Committee.

All were told that if there are no objections, the designation will be announced after the expiry of the deadline, but just hours before the deadline, China requested the U.N. committee to keep on hold the designation.

China had said any listing would have to meet the requirements, stressing that it was the Council members' responsibility to ensure that the criteria were followed.

Meanwhile, on the sidelines of the RIC meeting, Swaraj will hold bilateral meeting with her Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov to strengthen ties between the two allies.

She will also be meting Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin to exchange views and coordinate positions on international and regional issues of mutual interest.

Swaraj is scheduled to attend the RIC meeting today.

According to reports, the three Foreign Ministers will exchange views on international and regional issues of common concern and discuss ways to push trilateral pragmatic cooperation forward.

Swaraj arrived here last night for the second leg of her two-nation visit after Iran.

Upon her arrival in Moscow, Vikas Swarup, Official Spokesperson Ministry of External Affairs tweeted, "Namaste Moscow! EAM @SushmaSwaraj arrives in Russia to attend RIC Foreign Ministers Conference tomorrow."

Swaraj had a wide range of engagements with several top Iranian leaders, including President Hassan Rouhani in Iran.

During the visit, Tehran pressed on enhancing energy cooperation between both nations.