Pak’s bounty on Jaish chief Azhar ‘gimmick’, says MEA

India on Tuesday urged Pakistan to take action against sanctioned terrorists based on its soil instead of resorting to “gimmicks” such as a “phoney announcement” of a bounty for Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) chief Masood Azhar

Published on: Sep 16, 2026, 07:39:10 IST

By Rezaul H Laskar, New Delhi

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India on Tuesday urged Pakistan to take action against sanctioned terrorists based on its soil instead of resorting to “gimmicks” such as a “phoney announcement” of a bounty for Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) chief Masood Azhar.

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.

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).

“All that I would say is that such gimmicks and hoodwinking by Pakistan is nothing new. 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.

“For a state sponsor of terrorism to make phoney announcements, we all know how hollow it is. Pakistan must take action and not make phoney announcements, which are of no consequence,” he said.

While Pakistani authorities have claimed that they are unaware of Azhar’s whereabouts and that he has fled to Afghanistan, New Delhi has accused Islamabad of sheltering the JeM chief. 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.

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.

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). The pressure from FATF and Western countries forced Pakistan to take several steps against leaders of both terror groups.

Azhar was designated as a global terrorist by the UN Security Council in May 2019 after China removed a block to his listing.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Rezaul H Laskar
Rezaul Hasan Laskar is Foreign Editor with the Hindustan Times, which he joined in 2015. He began as a journalist in his hometown of Shillong in northeast India and has worked in newspapers and wire services over the years. He moved to New Delhi in 1997 and initially focused on defence, national security, Jammu and Kashmir and the northeast, while also working of foreign policy and international relations. He has been part of the media delegation accompanying PMs on foreign visits and has reported from destinations ranging from Tibet to Ukraine. Between 2007 and 2013, he was the Press Trust of India correspondent in Pakistan, one of only two Indian journalists allowed to report from the country. He extensively covered Pakistan’s domestic politics and the life of the common people, as well as the fallout of the 2008 Mumbai attacks on India-Pakistan relations and the subsequent trial in Pakistan of the suspects involved in the attack. As part of his reportage in Pakistan, he travelled the breadth of the country, from the Swat Valley to Balochistan. Reza’s first gig in journalism was writing a weekly music column, and music – especially classic rock – remains a keen interest. He is also a movie buff and a keen photographer.Read More

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