‘Gimmicks and hoodwinking’: India on Pakistan raising Masood Azhar bounty

India’s Ministry of External Affairs on Tuesday said that Pakistan increasing the bounty on Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar was a “gimmick”.

Pakistan recently raised the bounty on Azhar to 70 lakh Pakistani rupees from 50 lakh Pakistani rupees. This came ahead of a meeting of the Financial Action Task Force in October. The international money laundering watchdog will review Islamabad’s anti-terrorism efforts during the meeting, according to media reports.

The country had been put on the grey list of the watchdog between 2018 and 2022 for its failure to counter terror financing.

Azhar is wanted in India for the 2001 Parliament attack, the 2008 Mumbai attacks, the 2016 Pathankot airbase attack and the 2019 Pulwama bombing.

Responding to a question about Pakistan increasing the bounty on him during a press briefing on Tuesday, external affairs ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said that such “hoodwinking” by Islamabad was not new.

“We have seen such gimmicks in the past as well,” Jasiwal added. “For a state sponsor of terror to make an announcement, phoney announcement, we all know how hollow it is.”

He said that instead of making such announcements, Pakistan should arrest the terrorists “because they themselves know where these people are”.

India has long accused Pakistan of sheltering Azhar. However, Islamabad maintains that it...

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