UN security council blacklists Jaish-e-Mohammed head Masood Azhar

A U.N. Security Council committee blacklisted the head of the Pakistan-based militant group Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) on Wednesday after China dropped its objection to the move, ending a decade-long diplomatic impasse.

Pakistan’s ally China had repeatedly opposed efforts at the United Nations by Western powers to directly sanction JeM founder Masood Azhar, even though the group had already been blacklisted by the U.N. Security Council in 2001.

India hailed it as a diplomatic victory.

Masood Azhar will be subject to an assets freeze and a travel ban.

"Big, small, all join together. Masood Azhar designated as a terrorist in @UN Sanctions list. Grateful to all for their support," Syed Akbaruddin, India's ambassador to the United Nations, tweeted.

Pakistan said it would immediately enforce the sanctions, but also took aim at India.

"Pakistan maintains that terrorism is a menace to the world, including the Indian state-sponsored terrorism against innocent Kashmiris," foreign office spokesman Mohammad Faisal said.

He added that it would be false to present the development as a "victory for India and validation of its stance".

JeM has carried out several high-profile attacks in India and claimed responsibility for a February suicide bombing that killed at least 40 Indian paramilitary police in Indian-controlled Kashmir, an attack that brought the two nuclear-armed neighbors to the brink of war.

Azhar’s freedom within Pakistan has been a sore point in the relationship between Western countries and Pakistan, and has led to repeated accusations by India that Islamabad uses and harbors militant groups to further its foreign policy agenda. Pakistan denies such accusations.

Jaish-e-Mohammad literally means the Army of Mohammad.

Masood Azhar founded the group after he was released by India in 1999, one of three men set free in exchange for the crew and passengers of an Indian Airlines plane hijacked and flown to then Taliban-ruled Afghanistan.

Masood Azhar reportedly met the former Taliban leader Mullah Omar and al-Qaeda head Osama Bin Laden when he was in the country.