New Delhi, Sep 14 (IANS): Pakistan government on Monday announced a bounty of Rs 70 lakh on Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) chief and dreaded terrorist Masood Azhar and also added his name to its Federal Investigation Agency’s (FIA) ‘Red Book’ of the most wanted terrorists.
The terrorist already carried a bounty of Rs 50 lakh on his head, and today this amount was raised by another 20 lakh, besides putting him on the list of most wanted.
At first glance, the move may seem to put Pakistan on a high pedestal for cracking down on terror, but the reality is far from the truth. According to top sources, this has been done deliberately and tactfully to escape international scrutiny and also save itself from potential punishment during the upcoming FATF meet.
Many international experts believe that this is a clever ploy by Pakistan to evade penalty during the plenary meet of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), slated for next month.
Masood Azhar, the mastermind of many terror attacks in India, particularly the Pulwama terror attack, has been in hiding in Pakistan, but the latter has always remained in denial.
Pakistan has been facing global heat over terror financing and promoting terror havens on its soil, and the sudden hike in the bounty on Masood Azhar’s head is seen as a clever ploy ahead of FATF review meeting to escape punitive action.
It may be noted that Pakistan’s claims about not giving shelter to Masood Azhar have consistently been questioned. In 2021, Pakistan maintained that Azhar was not in the country, and the FIA had announced a bounty of Rs 50 lakh on him the same year.
Indian intelligence agencies maintain that the terrorist Masood Azhar remains in hiding inside Pakistan. He is believed to be hiding in the city of Nawabshah in Sindh province.
Apart from Masood, the FIA’s new ‘Red Book’ has listed 19 other terrorists linked to the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks. These individuals are accused of helping transport terrorists to Mumbai via sea routes, providing financial assistance, or playing a role in managing the operation. For 17 of these terrorists, the list provides their names, photographs, and details regarding their roles in the 26/11 attacks.
The ‘Red Book’ also lists 11 terrorists linked to Lashkar-e-Taiba who are accused of facilitating the sea voyage of the Mumbai attackers using the vessels Al-Hussaini and Al-Fauj.
Six others who provided financial support during the 26/11 attacks were also declared fugitives. They included Muhammad Iftikhar Ali, accused of spending Rs 70,000 to set up VoIP communication links between attackers and their handlers, Mohammad Zia (Rs 80,000), Mohammad Abbas Nasir (Rs 2,53,000), Javed Iqbal (Rs 1,86,430), and Mukhtar Ahmed (Rs 298,047).
According to the FIA, these 17 terrorists linked to the 26/11 attacks have been absconding for the past 18 years.
These claims have, however, been labelled as absurd and fake by Indian intelligence, as it maintains that all of them have consistently found safe refuge on Pakistani soil.
The inclusion of these terrorists on the ‘most wanted’ list is viewed as an attempt to evade international pressure rather than seen as genuine action.
The number of ‘Most Wanted’ terrorists in Pakistan’s Red Book has also seen a significant rise over the last five years. In 2021, this figure stood at 1,330, which has now risen to 1,804, marking an increase of 35 per cent.
