Pakistan Puts PKR 70 lakh Reward on Terrorist Masood Azhar

Pakistan has added Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar to its most-wanted list and raised the reward for his capture to PKR 70 lakh ahead of an upcoming FATF review.

Pakistan Lists Masood Azhar as Most Wanted

Maulana Masood Azhar, the founder of Jaish-e-Mohammed, is one of India’s most-wanted terrorists.

He has been linked to major terror attacks, including the 2001 Parliament attack, the 2008 Mumbai attacks and the 2019 Pulwama attack.

Now, in a surprising move, the Pakistani government has added Masood Azhar to its list of most-wanted suspects. It has also announced a PKR 70 lakh reward for information that helps in his arrest. The government notice includes details about Azhar, such as his address in Bahawalpur, height, appearance, hair colour and other information. It also describes him as “extremely dangerous.”

The announcement comes before a Financial Action Task Force (FATF) meeting in Paris from 26 to 30 October. FATF checks whether countries are taking action against terrorism financing.Some reports suggest that Pakistan may be taking this step to show that it is acting against terrorism before the FATF meeting. Pakistan was previously on the FATF grey list from 2018 to 2022.

Masood Azhar has also been declared an international terrorist by the United Nations Security Council.

India’s Ministry of External Affairs said that such announcements by Pakistan are not new and that Pakistan should take real action against terrorism instead of only making announcements.