
India's precision strike on Pakistani terror targets on May 7 likely killed Abdul Rauf Azhar, brother of Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) chief Masood Azhar. Abdul Rauf Azhar rose to global prominence with the inception of JeM in 2000. Earlier, a letter said to be issued by Masood Azhar confirmed that as many as 10 members of Azhar's family were killed in India's targetted strike in Pakistan's Bahawalpur, including his sister and brother-in-law, nephew and niece. Moreover, American activist Amy Mek, founder of the RAIR Foundation hailed India for delivering justice for the brutal murder of American-Jewish journalist Daniel Pearl.
The world and particularly India came to know about terrorist Abdul Rauf Azhar after the hijack of the Indian Airlines flight (IC-814) in 1999. Rauf Azhar - the planner of the hijack - wanted the release of his brother Masood Azhar from Kot Balwal jail of Jammu.
Masood Azhar was arrested by Indian authorities in February 1994 in Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir. He had entered India on a forged Portuguese passport under the alias "Shaikh Wali".He was held in Indian custody for over five years without being formally charged in a trial that led to conviction.
In December 1999, when Flight IC-814 was hijacked en route from Kathmandu to Delhi and taken to Taliban-controlled Kandahar in Afghanistan, Azhar along with two other terroristsAhmed Omar Saeed Sheikh andMushtaq Ahmed Zargar were releasedto save the 155 passengers onboard.
Shortly after his release, Masood Azhar went on to found JeM) in early 2000 in Pakistan. JeM was first designated a terrorist organization by the United States on October 26, 2001, following the 9/11 attacks and amid growing concern about global terrorism networks.India also banned JeM as terrorist organistion under its Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) around the same time.
Notably, Masood Azhar also carried out an assassination attempt on Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf in 2003 and worked in tandem with al-Qaeda and Osama bin Laden on a number of terror projects.
After 1999 hijack, Rauf Azhar was designated as a 'global terrorist' by the United States (US) in 2010.Following this, he orchestrated several more attacks on India, namely
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After the Pathankot attack, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) sought a red corner notice from Interpol against Rauf. The global agency issued a notice stating that Rauf was wanted for waging, or attempting to wage war, or abetting waging of war against the government of India, assaulting the president, governor, etc, with intent to compel or restrain the exercise of any lawful power besides being a member of terrorist gang or organisation among other offences.
A video of Rauf Azhar on a Pakistani website where he could be seen claiming responsibility for the Pathankot attack was sent to Interpol. However, the video mysteriously vanished and the Pakistani website was deleted. However, China delayed the imposition of sanctions sought by India and the US against Abdul Rauf Azhar at the United Nations. India's Operation Sindoor in 2025 might have finally ended terrorist Rauf Azhar.