The US has blocked Pakistan’s bid to have Jamaatul-ahrar commander, Umer Khalid Khurasani, listed as a terrorist by the UN Security Council’s sanctions committee, reflecting the strain and lack of trust in ties between the two countries, according to Pakistani news reports.

Pakistani officials say Khurasani, also known as Abdul Wali, is the alleged mastermind of the attack on the Army Public School in Peshawar in December

2014 that killed nearly 150 people and the Easter Sunday suicide bombing in Lahore in March

2016 that left 75 people dead, most of them Christians.

Pakistan’s Foreign Office informally learnt that the process to list Khurasani as a terrorist had been held up because of an objection by the US, the Dawn newspaper quoted a senior diplomatic official as saying. The US objected because Pakistan had listed Afghanistan as Khurasani’s current location, the report said.

The development came against the backdrop of China repeatedly blocking efforts by India and Western powers to have Pakistan-based Jaish-e-mohammed chief, Maulana Masood Azhar, listed as a terrorist by the UN Security Council, reportedly at the behest of Islamabad.

The Jamaat-ul-ahrar, in a statement sent to journalists, welcomed the US move to block Khurasani’s listing. Foreign office spokesman Mohammad Faisal on Thursday expressed disappointment at Khurasani not being listed as a terrorist by the UN Security Council. Without naming the US, he said the sanctions committee did not approve Pakistan’s request because it couldn’t reach consensus due to “disagreement by a member”.

“We are deeply disappointed…wali has the blood of hundreds of innocent Pakistanis on his hands,” he told a regular weekly briefing. “If the organisation, Jamaat-ul-ahrar, has been listed by the sanctions committee, its leader should also have been listed.”

Faisal contended the development reflected “double standards” in the fight against terrorism and showed “complete disregard” for sacrifices made by Pakistan in the fight .

The US move came amid deteriorating bilateral ties since US President Donald Trump unveiled his new South Asia and Afghanistan policy last August and choked military aid to Pakistan.

“The Americans inject politics into the sanctions regime and practice double standards. They are not listing the leader of a terrorist entity who is targeting Pakistan merely because he is operating from Afghanistan,” an unidentified Pakistani official told Dawn.

Jamaat-ul-ahrar, considered a faction of the Tehreek-e-taliban, was listed by the sanctions committee in July 2017 as a terrorist organisation. It has also been banned by Pakistan, where it has been blamed for 116 terrorist attacks since 2014.

The UN Security Council listing states that the Jamaat-ul-ahrar had been involved in financing, planning and perpetrating attacks along with the Pakistani Taliban and the Islamic State.

Courtesy: Hindustan Times 11 May 2018