India, China ink security pact

India and China on Monday inked a security pact even as Home Minister Rajnath Singh nudged his counterpart Zhao Kezhi over communist country's policy of shielding terrorists based in Pakistan from United Nations' sanctions.

The agreement was signed after Singh and Chinese Public Security Minister Zhao Kezhi co-chaired the first India-China high-level meeting on bilateral security cooperation in New Delhi.

A press release issued by Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) in New Delhi stated that the agreement would further strengthen and consolidate discussions and cooperation between India and China in the areas of counter-terrorism, organized crimes, drug control and other relevant areas.

Zhao's visit to New Delhi is one of the several engagements India and China are having this year to mend the relation, which had hit a new low last year over the military stand-off at Doklam Plateau in western Bhutan.

Zhao and Singh on Monday discussed “issues of mutual interest, including bilateral counter-terrorism cooperation”, the MHA stated.

Zhao arrived in New Delhi on Sunday. He will also visit Mumbai before concluding his five-day visit to India on Thursday.

Sources told the DH that Singh had conveyed to Zhao disappointment of New Delhi over Beijing's policy of blocking efforts to impose UN sanctions on the terrorist leaders, who had been coordinating attacks in and against India from bases in Pakistan.

New Delhi has been trying to get the chief of Pakistan-based terrorist organization Jaish e Mohammed (JeM), Masood Azhar, designated as an international terrorist by a UN panel. All individuals and entities listed by the 1267/1989/2253 ISIL (Da’esh) and Al Qaida Sanctions Committee of the UN are subjected to international sanctions, including travel restrictions and measures curbing financial transactions.

China, a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, has been persistently blocking the process to designate the JeM leader as a terrorist linked to global terror networks of the Al Qaeda, Islamic State and others. China earlier blocked India's move to get Lashkar-e-Tayyiba commander Zaki Ur Rehman Lakhvi and Hizbul Mujahideen chief Syed Salahuddin under UN sanctions.

Singh on Monday conveyed to Zhao that China's policy of shielding anti-India terrorists based in Pakistan from UN sanctions could undermine the global consensus to root out the menace.