'India should tell China protecting Azhar will affect friendship'

BJP MP R.K. Singh on Thursday said bilateral relations between India and China will be adversely affected if the latter keeps blocking the move to have JeM terror group chief Masood Azhar blacklisted by the UN.

Speaking during Zero Hour in the Lok Sabha, former Union Home Secretary Singh said Azhar was responsible for the Uri and Pathankot attacks, and China has been blocking the move to have him blacklisted, even after his organisation Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) is in the list of terror groups.

"This is the third time China has blocked our attempt. They are protecting a terrorist, and India needs to communicate to China that this is an unfriendly act and will affect bilateral relations," Singh said.

"We have a huge market... if we stop importing Chinese goods, it will send a message that friendship is not a one-way street," he added.

The US had moved a proposal on January 19 to blacklist Azhar, in one of the last of the actions taken by the administration under former US President Barack Obama. China vetoed the move on February 2.

The Jaish-e-Mohammad terror group has already been blacklisted by the 15-nation Security Council.

--IANS

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