The United States, Britain and France had initially asked the Security Council’s Islamic State and al Qaeda sanctions committee to subject JeM founder Masood Azhar to an arms embargo, travel ban and asset freeze in February. China had previously prevented the sanctions committee from imposing sanctions on Azhar in 2016 and 2017. JeM is an anti-India group that forged ties with al Qaeda and was blacklisted by the UN Security Council in 2001. In December 2001, the group’s fighters, along with members of another Pakistan-based militant group, Lashkar-e-Taiba, attacked India’s parliament, which almost led to a fourth war between the two countries. After further negotiations, they submitted a new request to the committee on Sunday to sanction Azhar, which was agreed on Wednesday.

Source: Dhaka Tribune May 01, 2019 13:41 UTC