Pakistan’s Masood Azhar Bluff: Bounty hiked to PKR 70 lakh ahead of FATF meet

In what appears to be another attempt to mislead the international community, Pakistan has increased the reward on Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) chief terrorist Masood Azhar to PKR 70 lakh. The move has raised questions about Pakistan’s sincerity in taking action against terrorists.

According to Pakistan’s newly released Red Book of most wanted terrorists, the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has listed Masood Azhar as a fugitive and increased the bounty on him by PKR 20 lakh. The announcement comes ahead of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) plenary in October, raising questions about whether Pakistan is trying to show action against terrorism to avoid being placed back on the grey list.

Pakistan has been making similar claims about Masood Azhar for years. In 2021, it claimed that the JeM chief was no longer in Pakistan and had fled to Afghanistan. The FIA had announced a reward of PKR 50 lakh on him that year. Five years later, the reward has been increased to PKR 70 lakh, but Azhar remains listed as a fugitive.