NEW DELHI: India on Tuesday criticised Pakistan over its announcement of a Rs 70 lakh reward for data resulting in the arrest or conviction of Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) chief Masood Azhar, calling it a “phoney” transfer and asking Islamabad to take concrete motion in opposition to the phobia group chief.Responding to Pakistan sustaining the bounty on Azhar, ministry of exterior affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal mentioned Islamabad’s announcement was unlikely to have any consequence.“Such gimmicks and makes an attempt at hoodwinking folks by Pakistan are nothing new. Now we have seen comparable gimmicks up to now as nicely. For a state sponsor of terrorism to make such phoney bulletins—everyone knows how hole they’re. Pakistan should take concrete motion relatively than make bulletins which can be in the end of no consequence…”Pakistan has continued to record Azhar within the Federal Investigation Company’s (FIA) “Crimson E-book” of most-wanted terrorists and has retained a reward of PKR 7 million for data resulting in his apprehension or conviction.Azhar, the founder and chief of JeM, is needed in India in reference to a number of terror circumstances, together with the 2001 Parliament assault. India has additionally linked JeM to the 2016 Pathankot airbase assault and the 2019 Pulwama bombing.His identify was first included within the FIA’s Crimson E-book in 2021 and has been retained in its 2026 version. He’s listed at serial quantity 1480 amongst 1,804 most-wanted terrorists.The FIA entry identifies Azhar as the top of Jaish-e-Mohammad and says the reward of as much as Rs 7 million is for data main on to his “apprehension or conviction”.
Share your ideas within the feedback
Be respectful · TOI community guidelines
The circumstances cited in opposition to him within the FIA record had been registered in Gujranwala, Multan and Lahore underneath provisions of Pakistan’s Anti-Terrorism Act.India has for years accused Pakistan of sheltering Azhar. Islamabad has maintained that he fled to Afghanistan, a declare rejected by Afghanistan’s Taliban authorities.Azhar was among the many fugitives India sought from Pakistan following the 2008 Mumbai terror assaults, wherein 10 Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorists killed 166 folks.The most recent improvement comes forward of the Monetary Motion Process Drive’s subsequent plenary in Paris from October 26 to 30. Pakistan was positioned on the FATF’s elevated monitoring record, generally often known as the gray record, in 2018 and remained there till 2022.It was eliminated after finishing commitments underneath two FATF motion plans centered on strengthening its anti-money laundering and counter-terror financing framework and implementing focused monetary sanctions.