Pakistan has announced a Rs 70 lakh reward for Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar by including his name in the Federal Investigation Agency’s (FIA) Red Book of most-wanted terrorists.
The move comes ahead of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) plenary scheduled to be held in October and is being viewed as a symbolic action by Pakistan to demonstrate that it is taking steps against terrorism.
Pakistan had earlier claimed that Masood Azhar had gone missing from the country and was hiding in Afghanistan. In 2021, the FIA had announced a Rs 50 lakh reward for information leading to his capture. Five years later, the bounty has now been increased by another Rs 20 lakh.
Pakistan has maintained since 2021 that Masood Azhar is not in the country and is instead in Afghanistan. However, according to sources in Indian intelligence agencies, technical analysis conducted over the past six months has indicated that Azhar is hiding in Nawabshah city in Pakistan’s Sindh province.
FIA Red Book Names 26/11 Terror Attack Suspects
The latest updated FIA list also includes the names of 19 terrorists accused of assisting the perpetrators of the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, including those who allegedly provided financial support and helped operate boats used by the attackers.
Photographs and details of their alleged roles in the 26/11 attacks have been included for 17 of them.
However, Pakistan has removed the photographs, details of their alleged links with Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and their specific roles in the Mumbai attacks for two individuals, retaining only their names in the updated list.
Mohammed Khan of Turbat, who allegedly provided the Al-Husseini boat used to transport the attackers towards Mumbai, remains on the FIA list. However, his photograph, alleged LeT links and role in the attacks have been removed.
Similarly, the photograph and alleged LeT links of Abdul Rehman, a resident of Bahawalnagar, have also been omitted. The 2021 FIA list had reportedly included their photographs and details of their roles.
11 LeT Terrorists Named Over Boat Operations
The current FIA list names 11 LeT terrorists allegedly involved in transporting the 26/11 attackers across the sea using the Al-Husseini and Al-Fouz boats.
They include Muhammad Amjad Khan of Multan, Shahid Ghafoor of Bahawalpur, Muhammad Usman of Sahiwal, Atiq-ur-Rehman of Lahore, Riaz Ahmed of Hafizabad, Muhammad Mushtaq of Gujranwala, Muhammad Naeem of Dera Ghazi Khan, Abdul Shakoor of Karachi, Muhammad Sabir Salfi of Multan, Muhammad Usman of Lodhran and Shakeel Ahmed of Rahim Yar Khan.
The list also contains the names of six terrorists accused of providing financial assistance for the 26/11 attacks.
Six Accused Of Funding Mumbai Attacks
Among them is Muhammad Iftikhar Ali, an alleged LeT operative from Faisalabad, who reportedly spent Rs 70,000 Pakistani rupees to arrange a VoIP connection that was allegedly used for communication between the attackers and their handlers.
Others named include Muhammad Zia of Rawalpindi, who allegedly provided Rs 80,000 to LeT for the attack; Muhammad Abbas Nasir of Khanewal, who allegedly provided Rs 2.53 lakh; Javed Iqbal of Kasur, who allegedly contributed Rs 1,86,430; Mukhtar Ahmed of Mandi Bahauddin, who allegedly provided Rs 2,98,047; and Ahmed Saeed of Battagram, who allegedly contributed Rs 21 lakh.
According to the FIA, all 17 terrorists linked to the 26/11 attack have been absconding for 18 years.
However, sources in Indian intelligence agencies have claimed that the 17 suspects are still in Pakistan and alleged that their inclusion in the FIA’s most-wanted list is merely an attempt to create an impression of action against them.
Pakistan’s Most-Wanted Terrorist List Rises 35% In Five Years
The FIA’s data also shows an increase in the number of most-wanted terrorists listed in Pakistan over the past five years.
The 2021 FIA Red Book reportedly contained 1,330 most-wanted terrorists. That figure has now risen to 1,804, marking an increase of around 35 per cent.
