(Image source from: Scroll.in)
JeM Chief Masood Azhar is 'Alive': Pakistani Media Report:- India’s most wanted terrorist Masood Azhar, who is also chief of Jaish-e-Mohammed is “alive”, according to Pakistani media report said on Sunday, quoting unnamed sources close to his family.
Jaish-e-Mohammed is a Pakistan-based terror outfit that is also responsible for the February 14 Pulwama suicide attack.
According to Geo Urdu News, the media reports claiming that JeM leader is dead are false. The report from various Pakistani media came amid speculation on social media that JeM founder has died. However, there was no official confirmation.
Quoting unnamed sources close to the family of the JeM chief, the channel said Azhar is “alive”, without adding detail to his health condition.
There was no authoritative statement regarding the Azhar’s fate from the Pakistan government.
“I don’t know anything at this moment,” Federal Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry told PTI when asked about media reports claiming the death of Azhar.
The Jaish-e-Mohammed was formed in 2000 by the 50-yera-old Azhar, the resident of Bahawalpur in Pakistan’s Punjab province.
Azhar, who was released by the National Democratic Alliance government in 1999 in exchange of hostages of the hijacked Indian Airlines plane IC-814, has been accused of being the brain behind the 2001 Parliament attack, suicide attack on Jammu and Kashmir state assembly, attack on Pathankot IAF base and the latest Pulwama terror strike.
In the meantime, Intelligence agencies in New Delhi were trying to find out reports on social media about the death of Azhar in Pakistan.
The Indian officials said they had no information other than that Azhar was undergoing treatment at an army hospital after suffering renal failure. Jaish terror outfit’s Balakot camp, where training was imparted to recruits to execute suicide attacks, was targeted by the Indian Air Force in an air strike earlier this week, following the Pulwama terror attack in which 40 Central Reserve Police Force personnel were killed.
The Indian government has claimed that it achieved spectacular success by destroying the facility.
In an interview to CNN, Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi earlier admitted that the JeM chief is in his country and is “very unwell”, but said the government can act against him only if India presents “solid” and “inalienable” evidence that can stand in a court of law.
“He is in Pakistan, according to my information. He is unwell to the extent that he can’t leave his house, because he’s really unwell,” Qureshi said.
The United States, the United Kingdom, and France last week moved a fresh proposal in the United Nations Security Council to designate Azhar as a global terrorist, a listing that will subject him to the worldwide travel ban, asset freeze and arms ban.
By Sowmya
