India dismissed Pakistan’s increased financial reward for Jaish-e-Mohammed founder Masood Azhar as a hollow gimmick ahead of international scrutiny. During a briefing in New Delhi, External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal stated that a state known as a sponsor of terrorism cannot launder its record with phoney announcements, demanding concrete action instead. Pakistan’s Federal Investigation Agency recently raised the payout for Azhar to seven million Pakistani rupees, placing him in its Red Book of most-wanted fugitives.
The timing coincides with an upcoming Financial Action Task Force plenary in October. Pakistan previously spent four years on the FATF grey list over weak controls on terror financing and sanctions enforcement, exiting only after making specific pledges that included efforts to arrest Azhar. While Islamabad has claimed since 2021 that Azhar fled to Afghanistan, the Taliban administration rejected that claim last week. New Delhi maintains that Azhar is wanted for multiple past attacks and argues that Pakistan’s paper bounties are no substitute for genuine arrests and prosecutions.