Pakistan asks Afghanistan to arrest JeM chief Maulana Masood Azhar, shares his likely whereabouts

Pakistan's ministry of foreign affairs has written a letter to Afghanistan formally askingthe Afghan authorities to locate and arrestMasood Azhar, the founder of the Pakistan-based terrorist organisation Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), while sharing details of regions where he is suspected to be present. In the letter, the foreign office also asked to locate and arrest him. Masood Azhar is the founder of the Pakistan-based terrorist organisation Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM).

In the letter, Pakistan suggeststhat Masood Azhar is likely to be in the Nangarhar and Kunhar areas of Afghanistan, and thereby tries to convey that the dreaded terrorist is not in Pakistan even as there are no official detailsaboutMasood's whereabouts. It is also not clear when exactly didAzhar move toAfghanistan—after the Taliban took control of Kabul last year in August, or before that.

A top official who is relatedto the development told Pakistan-based Geo Newscorrespondent: "We have written a one-page letter to the Afghan Foreign Ministry asking them to locate, report and arrest Masood Azhar, as we believe that he is hiding somewhere in Afghanistan." The officialrequested foranonymity.

JeM is responsible for multiple deadly attacks inIndia, including the attack on the Indian Parliament in December 2001. The attack had brought India and Pakistan to the brink of a full-scale war. Masood Azhar is India's most wanted terrorist.

Now, Pakistan has demanded that Afghan authorities should locate the JeM's chief and report to the Pakistani authorities.

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In 2019, the United Nations had been listed Masood Azhar as a global terrorist by the Al-Qaeda and Taliban Sanctions Committee.

The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has been mounting pressure on Islamabad to take action against terror funding from its soil. The Paris-headquartered watchdog has also hinted at the probability of Pakistan being taken off the grey list if it takes actionagainst terrorists and terror groups.

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