'Gimmicks': India on Pakistan's fresh announcement on Masood Azhar bounty

On September 15, 2026, India labeled Pakistan's recent announcement of a seven-million-rupee bounty on Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar as mere "gimmicks," urging Islamabad to take concrete action against terrorism. Pakistan has long maintained the bounty on Azhar, who continues to feature on the country's Federal Investigation Agency's (FIA) "Red Book" of most-wanted terrorists.

Azhar is wanted in India for numerous terror attacks, including the 2001 Parliament strike, the 2008 Mumbai attacks, the 2016 Pathankot airbase assault, and the 2019 Pulwama bombing.

The External Affairs Ministry spokesperson, Randhir Jaiswal, responded to the announcement, stating that Pakistan's repeated "gimmicks and hoodwinking" have become "nothing new." He emphasized that such hollow declarations from a state sponsor of terrorism are of no consequence. India has long accused Pakistan of harboring Azhar, while Pakistan has claimed he fled to Afghanistan, a statement rejected by Afghanistan's Taliban government.

In recent years, Islamabad has argued that Azhar operates from Afghanistan, a claim recently dismissed by the Taliban regime when a senior Afghan Foreign Ministry official stated that Azhar is not in the country.

Pakistan's announcement on the Azhar bounty comes amid pressure from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) to address terrorism, with the watchdog set to review Pakistan's anti-terrorism efforts at its upcoming plenary. In 2018, Pakistan was placed on the FATF grey list due to systemic deficiencies in anti-money laundering and its failure to counter-terror financing.

The FATF cited its inability to curb terror financing to Jaish-e-Mohammed and Lashkar-e-Taiba terror networks, as well as weak implementation of financial sanctions on UN-designated persons. To exit the grey list, Pakistan was required to ban Jaish-e-Mohammed and LeT and their fronts, convict leaders of these groups, and convict Azhar in absentia.

Despite exiting the grey list in 2022, Pakistan has since backslid on its assurances to FATF to finalize Azhar's arrest.