Ahead of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) October plenary, Pakistan has placed a PKR 7 million (Rs 70 lakh) bounty on Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) founder Masood Azhar. According to media reports, a notice from the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), Pakistan’s primary federal criminal investigation body, states that Azhar has been included in its "Red Book" of most-wanted terrorists. The FIA says he is absconding and that his whereabouts are unknown to the agency.

Where is Masood Azhar?

Islamabad has long maintained that Azhar fled to Afghanistan. It claims he escaped across the Durand Line in May 2019 and has remained at large ever since. The claim was dismissed last week by the Taliban. Kabul reiterated that Afghan territory will not be used against any other nation.

However, Pakistan has been facing pressure from the FATF to crack down on terror groups and their leadership. The Paris-based global watchdog is set to review Pakistan’s anti-terrorism efforts at its upcoming plenary.

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Ahead of the scheduled meeting, the Pakistani agency has put a substantial PKR 70 lakh bounty on the most-wanted terrorist, a significant increase of PKR 20 lakh from the similar bounty announced in 2021.

Why does Pakistan's bounty on Azhar raise eyebrows?

The announcement from the Pakistani side has raised eyebrows because it was made a month before the FATF plenary and Working Group meetings scheduled for next month in Paris, France. Although Pakistan was officially removed from the FATF grey list in October 2022, the leadership emphasised that delisting does not provide permanent immunity from global scrutiny, and all nations must continuously guard against evolving financial crimes and terror-financing risks.

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In fact, Pakistan was allowed to exit the grey list on the condition that the Asia/Pacific Group on Money Laundering (APG) would continue to review its performance on specific points. One of the points on which Pakistan continues to be under review by the APG, at the request of the FATF, is its ongoing efforts to arrest Azhar.

After its exit from the grey list and a decrease in international pressure and spotlight, Pakistan has backslid on the assurances it had made to the FATF, PTI reported last week, citing people familiar with the matter.

As of publication, the Indian side has not reacted to Pakistan's decade-old public stunt.

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