A Diplomatic U-Turn

"Better late than never" the proverb aptly describes the current Indo-China scenario. In a major diplomatic win for India, China finally agreed to designate Masood Azhar as a global terrorist. It is fascinating that it took almost two decades to come to this conclusion.

Masood Azhar, the founder of Jaish-e-Muhammad is accused of conspiring and plotting against India and is alleged to be the Mastermind behind major terrorist attacks in the country. Azhar is presently residing in Pakistan where he lives under the protection of Pakistani authorities. India's struggle to designate Azhar as a global terrorist hasn't been easy, with China constantly blocking the proposal citing there's no strong evidence against him. In October 2001 the UNSC recognized Jaish-e-Muhammad as a terror group and proposed a travel ban on it's a founder. While the majority of nations were in support of this move China stood isolated in order to prove it's allegiance to it's beloved friend Pakistan.

But after the deadly 26/11 attacks on Hotel Taj in Mumbai, India made sure that it leaves no stone unturned to list Masood Azhar as a global terrorist. India hoped for China's cooperation on issues of terrorism but was met with disappointment when the latter thwarted India's attempts. In 2016 and 2017 China continued with it's stance on the issue of Azhar. It was only after the gruesome Pulwama attack in which India lost 40 defense personnels, and for which Azhar's so called charitable organization Jaish-e-Muhammad claimed responsibility, China came under immense pressure to change it's mind on the issue.

But when China finally announced that the issue of Masood Azhar will be resolved very soon ,it surprised many of us. We couldn't help but wonder what could be the reason for a sudden U-Turn . While the ruling government seized this golden opportunity to boast about it's foreign policy, the opposition accused the government of turning the issue into a political gimmick.

We may call it a diplomatic U-Turn but the recent development has only strengthened the relationship between the Elephant and the Dragon.