NEW DELHI, July 18:
Intelligence inputs have suggested that India’s most wanted terrorist, Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar, has been spotted in Pakistan-occupied Jammu Kashmir’s Gilgit-Baltistan region, more than 1,000 km away from his Bahawalpur stronghold.
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Azhar was recently seen in Skardu, specifically around the Sadpara Road locality. The area hosts at least two mosques, affiliated madrasas and multiple private and Government guest houses.
Known as a tourist hub with attractive lakes and nature parks, it is a low-profile setting for the chief of a UN-proscribed terror outfit.
The revelation comes after Pakistan’s former Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari recently claimed that Azhar might be in Afghanistan. He even suggested that Islamabad would hand him over to India if he was found on Pakistani soil.
“If and when the Indian Government shares information with us that he is on Pakistani soil, we would be more than happy to arrest him,” Bhutto told Al Jazeera in a recent interview.
Azhar has been the mastermind of several terror activities in India, including the 2016 Pathankot airbase attack and the 2019 Pulwama attack, which left over 40 soldiers dead.
Indian intelligence agencies are closely tracking Azhar’s movements even as Jaish’s online platforms push deliberate misinformation, recycling old audio clips of his speeches to suggest he remained at his long-time Bahawalpur base. (Agencies)
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