On Tuesday, India urged Pakistan to take meaningful action against terrorists operating from its territory. This statement came in response to Pakistan’s recent announcement of a bounty on Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) chief Masood Azhar, which India dismissed as a mere publicity stunt. Indian officials emphasized that real steps against sanctioned terrorists are necessary rather than superficial gestures.
New Delhi has accused Islamabad of sheltering the JeM chief While Pakistani authorities have claimed that they are unaware of Azhar’s whereabouts and that he has fled to Afghanistan. The Taliban regime too has rejected Pakistan’s claim that Azhar is in Afghanistan. Pakistan’s reiteration of the reward for information on Azhar came in the face of pressure from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) to crack down on terror groups and their leaders. The global watchdog is set to review Pakistan’s anti-terrorism efforts at a plenary meeting next month. The pressure from FATF and Western countries forced Pakistan to take several steps against leaders of both terror groups.
Pakistan has maintained a bounty of Pakistani ₹ 7 million for Azhar for several years, and he is wanted by India for several terror attacks, including the 2001 Parliament strike, the 2016 Pathankot airbase assault, and the 2019 Pulwama bombing. Several of Azhar’s relatives were killed during an Indian strike on the JeM’s main base at Bahawalpur in May 2025 in retaliation for the Pahalgam terror attack. Azhar was designated as a global terrorist by the UN Security Council in May 2019 after China removed a block to his listing.
Pakistan was placed on the FATF’s “grey list” of countries subject to enhanced monitoring during 2018-2022 for its failure to counter terror financing, particularly by JeM and Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT).
“All that I would say is that such gimmicks and hoodwinking by Pakistan is nothing new. “For a state sponsor of terrorism to make phoney announcements, we all know how hollow it is. Azhar was freed by India along with two other terrorists in exchange for the passengers on flight IC 814 that was hijacked from Kathmandu to Kandahar in December 1999.
He is also listed among the most-wanted terrorists in the “Red Book” of Pakistan’s Federal Investigation Agency’s (FIA). We have seen similar gimmicks in the past as well,” external affairs ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal told a regular media briefing when he was asked about Pakistan’s bounty for Azhar. Pakistan must take action and not make phoney announcements, which are of no consequence,” he said.
