In a viral video uploaded to a YouTube channel on Tuesday, JeM commander Ilyas Kashmiri can be heard fuming over the Indian attack that killed the family members of Azhar and also bragging about fighting in neighbouring countries for Pakistan.
Pakistan-based terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammad chief Maulana Masood Azhar and his brother Abdul Rauf Asghar, mastermind of IC-814 hijack case, are among four persons identified by Indian intelligence agencies as 'handlers' behind the recent Pathankot attack.
Contradicting himself and his own cabinet colleague, Pakistan's Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi has said that the Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Maulana Masood Azhar, one of India's most wanted criminals, has not been arrested and is 'still at large'. Qureshi's remarks came barely an hour-and-half after he accepted the detention of Azhar while speaking to Dawn News channel a little after 9 pm on Wednesday.
Indian agencies warn that despite being told to maintain a low profile by the ISI, Maulana Masood Azhar could still spin out of control and use the hanging of Afzal Guru as a reason to strike.
He said the situation was made difficult for the terrorist organisations as a result Jaish chief Maulana Masood Azhar sent his nephews to carry out terror activities.
Pakistani authorities have reportedly imposed restrictions on the movement of Jaish-e-Mohammed founder Maulana Masood Azhar and confined him to his home despite turning down India's demand for handing him over.Azhar, who was freed by Indian authorities along with two other terrorists in exchange for passengers of an Indian Airlines flight hijacked from Kathmandu to Kandahar in 1999, has been confined to his multi-storey building in Model Town area of Bahawalpur.
The National Investigation Agency has charge sheeted Dilawar Iqbal -- a right-hand man of Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) chief Maulana Masood Azhar Alvi -- and Kupwara-resident Mohammed Ubaid Malik for allegedly conspiring to disturb the peace and communal harmony of Jammu and Kashmir by attacking security forces, officials said on Wednesday.
Even as Pakistan on Wednesday detained Jaish-e-Mohammad chief Maulana Masood Azhar, his brother and "several individuals" belonging to his dreaded outfit, suspected to have engineered the Pathankot terror attack, India has said it has no official conformation of the same.
2 other terrorists who were killed in the encounter include Divisional Commander Muhammad Bhai, a non-local Waseem, a resident of Drubgam, Pulwama.
Contradicting Defence Minister Chaudhary Mukhtar Ahmad, Pakistan's High Commissioner to India Shahid Malik on Wednesday said that Jaish-e-Mohmmad chief Maulana Masood Azhar, one of India's most-wanted terrorists, was not under house arrest and his whereabouts were not known to them."We are looking for him. He is not under house arrest. As far as I know, it (news reports of Azhar's house arrest) is wrong. He is not in Pakistan...We don't know where he is," Malik said.
'If this were to happen, it won't exactly be a game changer because Pakistan is known for treating arrested terrorists as 'political prisoners', who are generally given VIP treatment,' says Rajeev Sharma.
Months after India's precision strikes on nine terror camps across Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), a viral video of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) commander Qaasim has surfaced.
The special court issued the arrest warrant after weighing the evidence presented by the NIA.
Jaish-e-Mohammad chief Maulana Masood Azhar has acknowledged that 10 members of his family and four close associates were killed in India's missile attack on the outfit's headquarters in Bahawalpur. The statement attributed to Azhar said those killed included his elder sister and her husband, a nephew and his wife, another niece, and five children from his extended family. The attack also claimed the lives of one of Azhar's close associates and his mother, along with two other close companions.
Pakistan on Thursday confirmed that banned JeM chief Masood Azhar has been taken into "protective custody" along with his accomplices, but clarified he isn't arrested."
"If slogans are raised on reputed campuses for fragmenting India, resolutions are made to destroy it, and if Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru is hailed as a martyr, it is shameful and disconcerting," an appeal which has the consent of 33 individuals, including intellectuals and artistes, says.
BJP's ally Shiv Sena was not much impressed with the action, saying it is just usual for Pakistan to take such actions for the sake of it following terror incidents in India.
The fresh Red Corner notice was issued after the National Investigation Agency secured an 'open-ended' non-bailable warrant against Azhar and Rauf for allegedly conspiring to carry out terror strike on the strategic Indian Air Force base at Pathankot on the intervening night of January 1 and 2.
Pakistan on Wednesday arrested Jaish-e-Mohammad chief Maulana Masood Azhar, his brother and "several individuals" belonging to his dreaded outfit, which is suspected to have engineered the Pathankot terror attack, and sealed its offices after India demanded action, linking it to the fate of Foreign Secretary-level talks.
'If this were to happen, it won't exactly be a game changer because Pakistan is known for treating arrested terrorists as 'political prisoners', who are generally given VIP treatment,' says Rajeev Sharma.
JeM commander Ilyas Kashmiri also said that the Pakistan Army and the jihadis have become one after 25 years of his outfit's struggle.
Authorities in Pakistan have frozen bank accounts with more than Rs 400 million of over 5,100 terror suspects, including JeM chief Masood Azhar who is under "protective custody" after the terror attack on the Pathankot air base, officials said.
The Gujarat ATS has arrested a 22-year-old tailor, Faizan Shaikh, accused of being highly radicalized and planning targeted killings in Uttar Pradesh for perceived insults to Prophet Muhammad. He allegedly operated as a 'lone wolf' and had connections to terror groups like Jaish-e-Mohammed and Al Qaeda.
A special NIA court based in Mohali issued the 'open-ended non-bailable warrant' against Azhar, his brother, main handlers Kashif Jaan and Shaid Latif for allegedly entering into a criminal conspiracy with JeM terrorists for carrying out a terror strike on the Indian Air Force base.
Pakistan-based terror groups Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) and Hizbul Mujahideen (HM) have begun relocating their bases to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) province from Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir in the wake of India's Operation Sindoor, sources said.
Sources have revealed that at least five hardcore terrorists affiliated with banned terror outfits Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) were killed in Indian strikes in Pakistan on May 7th. The strikes targeted nine terror sites in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. Among the dead were Mudassar Khadian Khas, a LeT leader, and Hafiz Muhammed Jameel, the brother of JeM founder Maulana Masood Azhar. Other notable casualties included Mohammad Yusuf Azhar, a brother-in-law of Masood Azhar, and Khalid alias Abu Akasha, a LeT operative. The Pakistani military and government officials were present at the funerals of the slain terrorists.
Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Maulana Masood Azhar and underworld don Dawood Ibrahim are not in Pakistan, Interior Ministry chief Rehman Malik said today.
A total of nine terror sites in Pakistan, including five in Pojk, linked to Lashkar-e-Taiba (Let) and Jaish-e-Mohammed (Jem), were targeted with meticulous planning to avoid civilian casualties.
Former Director General of Sikkim Police Avinash Mohananey interrogated Azhar many a times during his two-decade tenure in the Intelligence Bureau.
The deputy prime minister said India was not bothered about Pakistan's statement that there was no change in its stand on Kashmir.
Terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammed's chief Masood Azhar Alvi along with five other Pakistani terrorists, two slain terrorists are among 12 people charge-sheeted in a case related to a terror attack in April ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's maiden visit to Jammu and Kashmir's after the abrogation of Article 370.
They are the first to be declared terrorists under the new anti-law, a home ministry official said.
'Pakistan is uncomfortable with the Indian presence in Afghanistan. They want the Taliban to ensure that there is no Indian presence in Afghanistan.'
Pakistani authorities have refuted Chilean police's claim of having arrested the brother of Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Maulana Masood Azhar, accused of coordinating the 1999 Indian Airlines IC-184 Kandhar hijacking, saying they had nabbed someone else, according to a media report.
Pakistan on Thursday refused to comment on reports that the Chilean police had arrested the brother of Jaish-e-Muhammad chief Maulana Masood Azhar, who was accused of coordinating the 1999 hijacking of an Indian Airlines plane.
Pakistani intelligence officials are tracing links between Times Square bombing plot suspect Faisal Shahzad and banned terror group Jaish-e-Muhammad, led by Maulana Masood Azhar. This search has led investigators to the sprawling, marble-floored Batha Mosque and a religious school in a crowded neighbourhood of Karachi, which was once the provincial headquarters of the JeM and was visited by the elusive Azhar, who was released from prison in 1999.
An National Investigation Agency court in Punjab on Tuesday issued proclamation notice against Pakistan-based terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammed's chief Maulana Masood Azhar and three others, asking them to appear before it on March nine in connection with last year's brazen attack on Pathankot IAF base.
The government also wanted to defame Pakistan, a key accused said.
'Special police told me that if I speak according to their wishes they will not harm my family and also gave me false assurance that they will make my case weak so that after sometime I will get released...'