Ahead of FATF Meet, Pakistan Announces Reward for Masood Azhar

Pakistan’s Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has continued to list Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) chief Masood Azhar in its ‘Red Book’ of most-wanted terrorists and has announced a reward of 7 million Pakistani rupees for information leading to his arrest or conviction. Islamabad has maintained that Azhar is not in Pakistan and has claimed that he fled to Afghanistan. The latest move comes ahead of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) plenary scheduled to be held in Paris from October 26 to 30.

Masood Azhar remains wanted in India in connection with several major terror cases, including the 2001 Parliament attack, the 2016 Pathankot airbase attack and the 2019 Pulwama bombing. India has rejected Pakistan’s latest announcement, with External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal saying similar “gimmicks” had been seen in the past and calling on Islamabad to take concrete action against terrorism instead of making announcements.