Declaration of Masood Azhar as a global terrorist by United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is a major diplomatic win for India. For very long, India demanded that Masood be banned and put behind bars to curb terrorism in this part of the world. But all its efforts failed to yield any results as China opposed the move tooth and nail. The country even claimed that there was not enough evidences to term the person a terrorist. Fortunately, other countries like USA and France were not in the same league with Beijing. As a result, after foiling the move for years, China has to bow before global pressure and concede that Masood is a terrorist and a threat to mankind. It goes to the credit of New Delhi that despite strong resistance from China, it never thought of giving up the fight. Rather India made every possible effort to isolate China on global stage on this issue. It was mainly due to Indian effort that other nations started opposing and questioning China’s stand on Masood.
Though China will never admit, it is not difficult to understand why the country was opposing the move. The country is all set to stand beside Pakistan as it has made a huge investment in China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). The country is investing over 20 per cent of Pakistan’s GDP in the said project. The reason behind the Chinese being so generous is the fact that the Asian giant needs an alternate sea route for trade. Beijing knows very well that sooner or later using South China Sea will be difficult as nations along the sea route are not in a mood to accept Chinese hegemony. So for that alternate route China is eyeing the Gwadar port in Pakistan. The plan is to build a road from the port to China alongside improving the mass transport and energy scenario in Pakistan. While the Pakistani rulers are going gaga over the project, people of that country are not so enthusiastic. They feel that by luring development, China is actually exploiting Pakistan.
So to show its solidarity with the people of Pakistan, the Chinese authorities did not leave any stone unturned to woo the local populace. As Pakistani provinces are under the influence of jehadi leaders like Masood or Hafeez Sayeed, China tried to kill two birds with one stone by supporting them. Beijing knew that by being soft towards the terrorists, it would gain the support of both the authority and the people. At the same time, a disturbed India suits China most; so that the fastest growing economy in the world can never be a threat to Beijing’s ambition to rule the world.
All the Chinese calculations came to a naught as the country could not ignore global pressure. With rest of the world, the country has to declare Masood a global terrorist. But just by declaring Masood a terrorist, China’s job is not over. It is no gainsaying whether barred or not, Masood will always eye India as he also knows New Delhi was the main force behind his sanction. But that doesn’t make either China or Pakistan safe. Masood has definitely planned against these two countries to pay back in the same coin. Both Beijing and Islamabad should keep in mind that to make his presence felt, Masood will strike back soon. So don’t leave the job half done. Otherwise, the fight against terror will remain half-hearted.
