{"id":1984,"date":"2026-09-16T08:30:38","date_gmt":"2026-09-16T08:30:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsraise.com\/in\/2026\/09\/16\/india-dismisses-pakistan-bounty-azhar-gimmick\/"},"modified":"2026-09-16T08:30:38","modified_gmt":"2026-09-16T08:30:38","slug":"india-dismisses-pakistan-bounty-azhar-gimmick","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsraise.com\/in\/2026\/09\/16\/india-dismisses-pakistan-bounty-azhar-gimmick\/","title":{"rendered":"India dismisses Pakistan&#8217;s new bounty on Masood Azhar as gimmick"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<!-- Quick Adsense WordPress Plugin: http:\/\/quickadsense.com\/ -->\n<div class=\"9fece8afa224fd09e54b043d0febfb58\" data-index=\"1\" style=\"float: none; margin:10px 0 10px 0; text-align:center;\">\n<script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js\"><\/script>\r\n<!-- NR ATF -->\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-8898941184964366\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"4839033563\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"auto\"\r\n     data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script>\n<\/div>\n<p>New Delhi on Tuesday, September 15, 2026, rejected Pakistan\u2019s latest announcement of a seven\u2011million\u2011rupee reward for information on Jaish\u2011e\u2011Mohammed (JeM) chief Masood Azhar, describing the move as a &#8220;gimmick&#8221; and urging Islamabad to take concrete action against terrorism.<\/p>\n<h2>Pakistan renews bounty on a wanted terrorist<\/h2>\n<p>Pakistan\u2019s Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) continues to list Masood Azhar in its &#8220;Red Book&#8221; of most\u2011wanted terrorists and has reiterated a cash reward for anyone who provides actionable intelligence leading to his capture. The bounty, announced again this week, amounts to seven million rupees, a figure that Pakistan has maintained despite international pressure to move beyond symbolic gestures.<\/p>\n<p>Azhar, the founder of JeM, remains one of India\u2019s most wanted individuals. He is implicated in a series of high\u2011profile attacks on Indian soil, including the 2001 Parliament siege, the 2008 Mumbai attacks, the 2016 Pathankot airbase assault and the 2019 Pulwama bombing. India has repeatedly accused Pakistan of sheltering him, a charge Pakistan counters by claiming that Azhar fled to Afghanistan.<\/p>\n<p>Afghanistan\u2019s Taliban\u2011run government, however, has dismissed Pakistan\u2019s claim, with a senior Afghan foreign ministry official stating last week that Azhar is not present in Afghanistan. The conflicting narratives have added to the diplomatic friction between New Delhi and Islamabad over the years.<\/p>\n<h2>India calls the announcement a hollow stunt<\/h2>\n<p>External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal addressed the bounty announcement during his regular media briefing. He said, &#8220;Such gimmicks and hoodwinking by Pakistan is nothing new. We have seen similar gimmicks in the past as well.&#8221; Jaiswal added that a \u201cstate sponsor of terrorism\u201d making \u201cphoney announcements\u201d is \u201chollow\u201d and that Pakistan must undertake \u201cconcrete action\u201d rather than rely on \u201cphoney announcements.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Indian government\u2019s response underscores a long\u2011standing frustration with what it perceives as Pakistan\u2019s reliance on symbolic measures rather than substantive counter\u2011terrorism steps. New Delhi has repeatedly demanded that Islamabad arrest Azhar and dismantle the networks that support JeM and its sister organization, Lashkar\u2011e\u2011Taiba (LeT).<\/p>\n<h2>FATF review intensifies pressure on Pakistan<\/h2>\n<p>Pakistan\u2019s renewed bounty comes as the country faces renewed scrutiny from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), the Paris\u2011based global watchdog that monitors anti\u2011money\u2011laundering and counter\u2011terror\u2011financing regimes. FATF is scheduled to review Pakistan\u2019s anti\u2011terrorism efforts at its upcoming plenary session.<\/p>\n<p>Between 2018 and 2022, Pakistan was placed on FATF\u2019s grey list due to systemic deficiencies in anti\u2011money\u2011laundering controls and a failure to curb terror financing, particularly to JeM and LeT. The watchdog highlighted weak implementation of financial sanctions on United Nations\u2011designated persons as a key shortcoming.<\/p>\n<p>To exit the grey list, Pakistan was compelled to enact a series of reforms, including banning JeM and LeT and their front organizations, and convicting leaders of these groups. In 2021, a court convicted Masood Azhar in absentia, and the United Nations Security Council designated him as a global terrorist in May 2019.<\/p>\n<p>After meeting the immediate conditions, Pakistan was allowed to leave the grey list in 2022 on the understanding that the Asia\/Pacific Group on Money Laundering (APG) would continue to monitor its compliance on specific points. One of the ongoing concerns highlighted by APG, at FATF\u2019s request, is Pakistan\u2019s effort to arrest Azhar.<\/p>\n<p>Analysts cited in the source material argue that once the immediate international spotlight faded, Pakistan backslid on several assurances it had made to FATF. The re\u2011announcement of the bounty, critics say, is an attempt to showcase a superficial response without delivering the substantive law\u2011enforcement action that FATF and India expect.<\/p>\n<p>India\u2019s dismissal of the bounty as a \u201cgimmick\u201d reflects a broader diplomatic narrative that Islamabad\u2019s gestures are insufficient to address the underlying threat posed by Azhar and his network. The Indian foreign ministry\u2019s emphasis on \u201cconcrete action\u201d signals that New Delhi will continue to press Pakistan for tangible results, including the arrest or extradition of the JeM chief.<\/p>\n<p>As the FATF plenary approaches, the international community will be watching closely to see whether Pakistan can demonstrate genuine progress on its anti\u2011terror financing commitments. The outcome could influence the country\u2019s access to global financial systems and its broader diplomatic standing.<\/p>\n<p>For now, the seven\u2011million\u2011rupee bounty remains a point of contention, with India rejecting it as an empty gesture and urging Pakistan to move beyond rhetoric toward decisive, enforceable measures against terrorism.<\/p>\n\n<div style=\"font-size: 0px; height: 0px; line-height: 0px; margin: 0; padding: 0; clear: both;\"><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>India called Pakistan&#8217;s fresh seven\u2011million\u2011rupee bounty on Jaish\u2011e\u2011Mohammed chief Masood Azhar a gimmick, urging concrete anti\u2011terror action amid FATF scrutiny.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":1985,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[299],"tags":[2060,259,2058,2059,2061],"class_list":["post-1984","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-fatf","tag-jaish-e-mohammed","tag-masood-azhar","tag-pakistan-india-relations","tag-terror-financing","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsraise.com\/in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1984","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsraise.com\/in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsraise.com\/in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsraise.com\/in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsraise.com\/in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1984"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsraise.com\/in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1984\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsraise.com\/in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1985"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsraise.com\/in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1984"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsraise.com\/in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1984"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsraise.com\/in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1984"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}