Sep 16, 2026 13:29 pm IST

Opinion | Rs 75-Lakh Bounty, New Jaish Base, And The Case Of Pak's Ever-Missing' Terrorist

Pak's yearly act is back: finding Masood Azhar. But there are other questions FATF must be asking next month as it meets

Tara Kartha Tara Kartha Columnist

Tara Kartha Columnist

It's all rather hilarious at one level, even while being deadly serious on another. A few days ago, Pakistan published a notification increasing the bounty on Masood Azhar, head of the Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), from about PKR 50 lakh to 75 lakh. That's not some inflation-accounting; it comes ahead of a meeting of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) next month. That international body of 40 members has the power to decide whether the Pakistani financial system has been cleaned up or not. In 2023, it let Rawalpindi off with a slew of actionable points. This time, the idea is to convince them that Rawalpindi is keen to up the ante in its so-called "search" for the elusive Azhar.

(The sprawling Markaz Subhanallah complex, badly damaged in India's precision strikes during Operation Sindoor last year, has now been extensively rebuilt)

The Whole Jaish 'Special'

Much has been written about the 'Red Book' brought out by the Federal Investigative Agency (FIA), which details the various terrorists it supposedly intends to act against, including over 17 people who were involved in the Mumbai terror attack. Pakistan, which was under President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Youssef Gillani then, did not deny that 'elements' from the country were involved in the heinous Mumbai attacks. In fact, this was confirmed by the government of India at the time. In fact, President Zardari even offered - under strong British pressure - to send the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Chief, Lt Gen Shuja Pasha, to India to help. Pasha himself seemed ready to share intelligence, amid reports of a possible second attack on India. Eventually, however, nothing came of this, and Pasha's visit was turned down by the military (which was under General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani at the time). Shortly thereafter, Zardari himself lost his job.

But here's the curious thing. While India did call out Jaish as one of the planners, Pakistan denied that completely. A rather detailed investigation by a noted police officer,........

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