Pakistan Raises Masood Azhar Bounty Ahead of FATF Meet as Jaish Base Rebuilds

Pakistan has notified an increase in the bounty on Masood Azhar, the head of Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), raising it from about PKR 50 lakh to PKR 75 lakh. The move comes weeks before a meeting of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), the 40-member body that assesses whether countries have cleaned up their financial systems. In 2023, the FATF released Pakistan from its grey list after accepting claims of significant progress on 34 action plan items related to terrorist financing and anti-money laundering, including assertions that investigations and prosecutions target senior leaders of UN-designated groups.

Pakistan's latest notification is being read as an attempt to demonstrate seriousness in its long-running 'search' for Azhar, who has repeatedly slipped out of view. He was first seen in Kashmir in the early 1990s and was arrested in connection with attacks in the Valley, triggering a fierce response from sections of the Pakistani security establishment. In 1995, six foreign tourists were kidnapped in an operation aimed at securing his release; only one survived, one was beheaded and the rest were never seen again. Three years later, the Kandahar hijacking ended with Azhar walking free. He returned to a hero's welcome and founded JeM, whose headquarters at Bahawalpur was widely known.

A 2006 US diplomatic demarche noted that television appeals by Al Rashid, a JeM front, for donations and other fundraising activity continued despite the group's designation after 9/11. It also flagged the participation of a federal information minister in the activities of another front, the Al Akhtar Trust, and a parliamentary secretary's public declaration of support for jihadi organisations.

Azhar was designated by the UN Security Council in 2019 after China withdrew its objections, though the listing made no reference to the Pulwama attack that killed about 40 Indian paramilitary personnel and prompted the Balakot air strike. After the listing, Azhar again disappeared from public view, and new fronts emerged in Kashmir — the People's Anti-Fascist Front for JeM and The Resistance Front for Lashkar.

Following the Pahalgam massacre and India's Operation Sindoor, records indicate that the strike on Bahawalpur's Markaz Subhanallah killed at least 10 members of Azhar's family, including his sister and her husband, a nephew and his wife, another niece and five children. Azhar himself was not killed, and there is uncertainty over whether his brother died. Pakistan now says Azhar has fled to Afghanistan, where the Taliban are unlikely to shelter him.

Satellite imagery after Operation Sindoor indicated the JeM headquarters had been badly damaged, but extensive footage later showed Markaz Subhanallah rebuilt with expensive marble work and restored residential complexes. There are allegations that the Pakistani establishment provided PKR 25 crore to JeM in cash instalments, with roughly PKR 11 crore reportedly set aside for rebuilding the central hall.

Other questions the FATF may weigh include how JeM funded a large rally on February 5 last year, attended by hundreds of its cadres and some from Hamas, and the presence of army and senior police officials, including a Lieutenant-General and a Major General, at the funerals of those killed in the Indian strikes. The FATF's remit is limited to terrorist financing rather than state sponsorship, but proof of official payments — even for funeral expenses — would fall within its scope.