No April 23 deadline in UN to decide on Masood Azhar's terror listing: China
Beijing: China on Wednesday dismissed reports that the US, UK and France have served it an ultimatum until April 23 to lift its "technical hold" on designating Pakistan-based JeM chief Masood Azhar as a global terrorist but claimed that the vexed issue is "moving towards settlement".
After the Pulwama attack, a fresh proposal to designate -- Azhar under the 1267 Al Qaeda Sanctions Committee of the UN Security Council was moved by France, the UK and the US.
However, China blocked the bid by putting a "technical hold" on the proposal. Following this, the US backed by the UK and France moved directly to UN Security Council (UNSC) to blacklist Azhar.
China, a veto wielding member of the UNSC, had opposed the move, saying the issue should be resolved at the 1267 Committee itself which also functioned under the top UN body.
Reacting to reports that the three countries have fixed April 23 as deadline for China to lift its technical hold in the 1267 Committee or else they would press for a discussion on the issue at the UNSC itself, Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said, I don't know where you get such information."
He said both the UNSC and its subsidiary body 1267 Committee have clear rules and procedures.
You need to get clarification from the sources about where you get such information. China's position is very clear. This issue should be resolved through cooperation. We don't believe that any efforts without the consensus of members will achieve a satisfying results," he said.
On the issue of listing Azhar, China's position remains unchanged. We also stay in communication with relevant parties. The matter is moving towards the direction of settlement," he said.
The relevant parties are forcing new resolution through the UN Security Council. We firmly oppose that. In fact, the relevant discussion in UNSC, most member expressed wish that this issue should be discussed within the 1267 committee and they don't hope to bypass it to handle the issue," he said.
Without directly referring to the US, Lu said, "We hope the relevant country can respect the opinion of most members of the UNSC to act in a cooperative manner and help this issue be properly resolved within the framework of the 1267 Committee."
Asked to elaborate on his assertion that the issue which had been pending for years due to series of technical holds put by China had moved towards resolution, Lu merely reiterated that the matter is moving towards the direction of settlement .
China which has been consistently blocking India, US, UK and France's moves to blacklist Azhar had stalled it once again at the 1267 Committee of the UN on March 14 by putting a "technical hold".
On April 1, China claimed that positive progress has been made to resolve the issue and accused Washington of scuttling its efforts by taking it to the UN Security Council.
China also came up with similar claims on April 3 responding to US State Department spokesman's comments that Washington will use all available resources to blacklist Azhar to ensure that he will be held accountable.
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AIITA welcomes Karnataka’s ban on obscene songs in school events
Bhatkal: The Karnataka unit of the All India Ideal Teachers Association (AIITA) has welcomed the Karnataka government’s decision to strictly ban school children from dancing to obscene songs during educational and cultural programmes in government, aided, and private schools across the state.
AIITA Karnataka State President M. R. Manvi congratulated the government for taking what he termed an important step to preserve the sanctity of education.
“Such decisions to safeguard the dignity of school children and uphold the values of education are the need of the hour. This rule should not be limited to government schools alone but must be strictly implemented in all private educational institutions as well,” he said.
He further urged the government to address other concerns within school programmes.
“The government should not only prohibit obscene dances in the name of school anniversaries, but also ensure that plays and dialogues that incite religious hatred are avoided. Schools should be centres of harmony, not platforms for spreading hatred,” he added.
According to a recent circular issued by the Department of School Education and Literacy, obscene dances are adversely affecting the mental health and moral values of students.
In this regard, schools have been advised to use songs that promote nationalism, positive thinking, the greatness of Kannada culture, and value-based traditions instead of inappropriate content during programmes.
The circular also emphasises that students should be dressed in decent attire.
AIITA also backed the department’s warning that disciplinary action would be taken against head teachers if such guidelines are violated. The association has further demanded that district Deputy Directors of Public Instruction strictly monitor the implementation of these rules.
