That ambiguity lifted when China put, for the fourth time, a “technical hold” on the move, this time initiated not by India but by France, United States and the United Kingdom. What kept Pakistanis on tenterhooks right up to the last minute was that China was not talking or giving any forewarning of what it would do. Ergo, the uncertainty and nervousness.

That itself was departure from previous occasions when Azhar Masood faced a United Nations listing as a global terrorist. Then, on the previous occasions, starting from 2009, China made it plain beforehand that it did not consider Azhar Masood a terrorist so far gone that he was a clear present and future threat to the world community. As far as Pakistan and China were considered, there was no proof that Azhar was sending JeM terrorists to India to create mayhem and commit murder. The terror strikes in Pathankot and Uri were to them the handiwork of unknown elements and India could not provide evidence to link them to JeM and Azhar Masood.

This time, however, China couldn’t be so lackadaisical as to dismiss outright the involvement of JeM in the Pulwama suicide car-bomb attack. For starters, there was the JeM video, claiming responsibility. Two, JeM did not deny the video. Three, the very fact that Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan sought “actionable proof” was acceptance of sorts. Imran could have denied outright the Indian accusation. But he sought not proof, which was there, but “actionable” evidence. What is actionable evidence? Can a distinction be made between “evidence” and “actionable evidence”?

China, at the end of the day, quelled Pakistani tensions and voted like it did on the previous occasions and suddenly a “gravely ill” was hale and healthy, an honourable citizen of Pakistan whose madrasas were being taken over by the Pakistan government because they needed a makeover in line with Imran Khan’s ‘Naya Pakistan’ narrative, not because they were terror recruitment nurseries. At the end of the day, China chose its national interest over the global consensus that Azhar Masood is a terrorist fit to be loathed and branded a global terrorist.

The global initiative failed. But France, which piloted the move in the UNSC, went on to take “national action” against Azhar Masood. Does that change anything for China, and Pakistan? For China, maybe. One more outrage such as Pulwama, Uri or Pathankot and China will no more have an excuse. It could be that China has got an assurance from Imran Khan and maybe Khan got an insurance from the ISI that Azhar Masood and JeM will lie low for a while though it’s hard to believe that terror outfits such as JeM and LeT are beholden to anyone, their agendas different from those of elected governments and authoritarian regimes.

For the time being, China wants its CPEC assets protected from plausible terror attacks. China’s President for Life Xi Jinping’s Belt & Road Initiative (BRI), of which CPEC is an important extension, probably BRI’s flagship, cannot proceed under the shadow of terror. All it requires is one terror hit by one terror outfit to make CPEC open sesame for every terror ‘tanzeem’ in Pakistan to go berserk. And not even China will be able to fight the lot. There’s a lot of difference between herding intimidated Uyghur Muslims into so-called “indoctrination camps” in Xinjiang and dealing with Islamist fanatics of JeM, and LeT hopheads, based in Pakistan. They are two different worlds.

As for Pakistan, it cannot but heave a sigh of relief that it’s begging bowl arm did not get a slashed off at the wrist. The tension in Pakistani television newsrooms was understandable. The Pakistani economy runs on global alms and every arm of Pakistani society, from politicians to the Pak Army to the Pakistani media, cannot survive a global alms famine hitting Pakistan.

That is also one reason why every Pakistani segment of society stands united behind the Pak Army. The media is completely under Pak Army control. And, like one Pakistani-Canadian journalist said, “Pakistani journalists don’t have to try hard to fall in line and tell every lie the Pak Army puts out. It is second nature.” For that comment the Pakistani-Canadian is now in trouble. The message delivered to him via Pakistani diplomats that he will be “fixed”. Terror is weapon everybody in Pakistan uses including its envoys abroad. All the more reason why China should see the light of the day and corrects its impression about Azhar Masood and Pakistan. (IPA Service)