India on Friday said it is disappointed that a technical hold has been put on its application to designate Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar in the United Nations Security Council Committee. The Ministry of External Affairs said that India finds it incomprehensible that while the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad group was listed in the UNSC for its "well known terror activities", the designation of the group's "main leader, financier and motivator" has been put on technical hold, reported PTI.

Ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup said, "The recent terror attack in Pathankot on January 2 has shown that India continues to bear the dangerous consequences of not listing Azhar. Given the global networking of terrorist groups, this has implications for the entire international community." However, China's permanent representative Liu Jieyi responded on Saturday, and said Azhar did not meet "the Council's requirements" to be considered a terrorist.

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Following the Pathankot terror attack, India had written to the UN calling for immediate action to list Azhar under the Al-Qaeda Sanctions Committee. According to the report, India had also given strong evidence of JeM's terror activities and its role in the Pathankot attack that killed seven Indian military personnel. India said that not listing Azhar would expose it and other South Asian countries to threats from the terror group and its leader. However, China had requested the UN Committee, which is considering a ban on the JeM chief, to keep on hold the designation.

This is the second time China has supported Pakistani terrorists in the sanctions committee. In June 2015, China blocked India's demand to taked action under the Council's anti-terrorism resolutions against Pakistan for freeing Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, the Lashkar-e-Taiba mastermind of the 2008 Mumbai attacks that killed 166 people.