India Calls Pakistan's Fresh Masood Azhar Bounty a 'Gimmick', Demands Concrete Action

India on Tuesday dismissed Pakistan's fresh announcement of a seven-million-rupee bounty on Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar, describing such measures as "gimmicks" and pressing Islamabad to take concrete action against terrorism.

Responding to questions at a regular media briefing, External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said such announcements were nothing new and had been seen in the past as well. He said that for a state sponsor of terrorism to make such phoney announcements, everyone knows how hollow it is, and that Pakistan must take concrete action rather than issue announcements that are of no consequence.

Pakistan has maintained the bounty on Azhar, who remains listed in the Federal Investigation Agency's "Red Book" of most-wanted terrorists. India has long accused Pakistan of sheltering the JeM founder, who is wanted in connection with several major attacks, including the 2001 Parliament strike, the 2008 Mumbai attacks, the 2016 Pathankot airbase assault and the 2019 Pulwama bombing.

Islamabad has for years claimed that Azhar fled to Afghanistan and has been operating from there. That claim was rejected last week by Afghanistan's Taliban government, with a senior Afghan Foreign Ministry official saying he is not in the country.

The renewed bounty announcement comes as Pakistan faces pressure from the Financial Action Task Force to crack down on terror groups and their leadership. The Paris-based watchdog is set to review Pakistan's anti-terrorism efforts at its upcoming plenary.

Pakistan was placed on the FATF grey list between 2018 and 2022 over systemic deficiencies in anti-money laundering and its failure to counter terror financing. Among the key reasons were its failure to curb financing for the Jaish-e-Mohammed and Lashkar-e-Taiba networks, along with weak implementation of financial sanctions on UN-designated individuals.

To exit the grey list, Pakistan was required to take a series of steps, including banning JeM and LeT and their fronts and convicting leaders of these outfits. Masood Azhar was convicted in absentia in 2021, and was designated a global terrorist by the UN Security Council in May 2019.

In 2022, Pakistan was allowed to exit the grey list on the condition that the Asia/Pacific Group on Money Laundering would continue to review its performance on certain specific points. One of the points on which Pakistan remains under APG review at the FATF's request is its ongoing efforts to arrest Azhar.

After its exit from the grey list and a reduction in international pressure and scrutiny, Pakistan has backslided on the assurances it gave to secure that exit.