Pakistan International Minister Bilawal Bhutt has delivered a bombshell, claiming Pakistan is unaware of the whereabouts of UN-designated terrorist Masood Azhar.
In a shocking assertion, Pakistani politician Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has claimed that Islamabad doesn’t know the place terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar is. He added that Pakistan can be “very happy” to arrest Azhar if India supplies credible info confirming his presence on Pakistani soil.
Masood Azhar stays one in all India’s most-wanted terrorists, with alleged involvement in a number of main assaults, together with the 2001 Indian Parliament assault, the 2008 Mumbai assaults, the 2016 Pathankot airbase assault and the 2019 Pulwama suicide bombing. Azhar was designated a world terrorist by the United Nations in 2019. His launch in 1999 was secured by way of the hijacking of Indian Airways flight IC-814, which was diverted to Kandahar.
India has lengthy demanded Azhar’s extradition, together with that of Lashkar-e-Taiba founder Hafiz Saeed. Nevertheless, Pakistan has repeatedly denied their presence or freedom regardless of mounting proof.
Bhutto claims Azhar could also be in Afghanistan
In an interview with Al Jazeera, Bilawal Bhutto, head of the Pakistan Folks’s Social gathering (PPP) and a member of the ruling coalition, denied that Hafiz Saeed is at massive and recommended that Azhar may be in Afghanistan.
“It is factually not right that Hafiz Saeed is a free man. He’s within the custody of the Pakistani state,” Bhutto mentioned. On Azhar, he added, “We now have been unable to arrest him or determine him. Given his previous involvement within the Afghan jihad, we consider he could also be in Afghanistan.”
Pakistan says prepared to cooperate if India supplies proof
When requested why Pakistan would anticipate India’s intelligence, Bhutto defined, “When you may have counterterrorism cooperation with any nation, each side share teams of concern. That’s how we’ve labored collectively to stop assaults in locations like London, New York and even inside Pakistan.”
Bhutto defended Pakistan’s limitations, notably concerning cross-border operations in Afghanistan. “If he’s in Afghanistan, the West has now handed over the nation to a bunch they as soon as known as terrorists and now name the federal government. NATO couldn’t monitor down everybody—how can Pakistan be anticipated to succeed the place NATO failed?” he mentioned.
India’s Operation Sindoor
Bhutto’s remarks come within the backdrop of rising tensions following the April 22 terror assault in Pahalgam. India responded with a sequence of cross-border airstrikes beneath Operation Sindoor, focusing on main terror hubs together with Lashkar-e-Taiba’s base in Muridke and Jaish-e-Mohammed’s headquarters in Bahawalpur.
Masood Azhar later claimed that ten of his relations and 4 shut aides have been killed within the Indian strikes.