Can’t have 2 standards on terror, government tells China

Defence minister Manohar Parrikar on Thursday said he had raised during his recent official visit to China the issue of Beijing’s decision to block New Delhi’s move at the UN to get terror outfit JeM’s chief, Masood Azhar, banned by the world body, telling the Chinese leadership that “there cannot be differentiation in terrorists”.

He said he had also raised firmly with the Chinese the presence of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK). During Mr Parrikar’s visit, China, in turn, is understood to have raised the issue of the recent visit to India by US defence secretary Ashton Carter and India’s move to sign a logistics pact with the United States. But New Delhi apparently made it clear to Beijing that India had taken an “autonomous” stand on various foreign policy issues as per its strategic interests. On the issue of transgressions along the Line of Actual Control (LAC), Mr Parrikar conceded that the security forces of both sides have engaged in “technical transgressions” in the border areas claimed by both sides on account of the differing perceptions of the LAC adopted by the two countries.