Masood Azhar remains on Pakistan’s most-wanted list

way2barak, September 15: Taking its duplicity on combating terror to farcical levels, Pakistan’s Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has declared a reward of PKR 70 lakh on UN-designated terrorist Maulana Masood Azhar while calling him a “fugitive”. The move comes ahead of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) meeting next month.

Pakistan had initially included Azhar in its ‘red book’ in 2021, setting a bounty of PKR 50 lakh. With apprehensions of being placed back on the FATF’s ‘grey list’, Pakistan has now raised the reward by an additional PKR 20 lakh after five years.

The move comes despite Islamabad’s long-standing falsehood that Azhar escaped to Afghanistan and was no longer in the country. Even after key family members overseeing Jaish-e-Mohammed operations were eliminated in Operation Sindoor, Pakistan has remained unwilling to acknowledge his presence on its territory or extradite him to India. The assessment of Indian agencies is that he is based in the Sindh province but is often moved to different locations by the ISI to escape an assassination bid.