India’s Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has officially dismissed Pakistan’s recent decision to raise the bounty on Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) chief Masood Azhar, labeling the move a meaningless “gimmick.” During a media briefing in New Delhi, MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal criticized the announcement, highlighting a long-standing pattern of superficial gestures by Pakistan aimed at dodging international scrutiny. Jaiswal emphasized that for a state sponsor of terrorism to make such declarations is entirely hollow, urging Islamabad to take tangible action against terrorists rather than relying on inconsequential PR stunts.
The response follows reports that Pakistan’s Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) increased the reward for Azhar by PKR 20 lakh, taking the total bounty to PKR 70 lakh (approximately INR 24 lakh) in its 2026 Red Book of wanted fugitives. The FIA had initially placed a reward on him in 2021. Timing plays a critical role in this development, as the announcement comes just weeks ahead of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) plenary meeting in October. Having been removed from the FATF “grey list” in October 2022, Pakistan remains under constant pressure to demonstrate concrete measures against UN-designated terrorists to prevent being placed back under strict financial surveillance.
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Azhar’s current location continues to be a point of contention between the two nations. Islamabad claims that the JeM leader is no longer on Pakistani soil and has fled to Afghanistan, a narrative that New Delhi firmly rejects. Azhar founded Jaish-e-Mohammed in 2000 following his December 1999 release from Indian custody—a trade for hostages during the hijacking of Indian Airlines flight IC-814 to Kandahar. His terror network is responsible for major attacks in India, including the 2001 Parliament attack, the 2016 Pathankot airbase assault, and the 2019 Pulwama bombing.
Tensions around the JeM leadership escalated further following India’s Operation Sindoor in May 2025, launched in response to the Pahalgam terror strike. The targeted military operation destroyed JeM’s primary facility, Markaz Subhanallah, located in Bahawalpur, Pakistan. Azhar later publicly acknowledged that several close associates and family members were killed during the strike. Despite Pakistan’s attempts to portray itself as actively pursuing the militant leader, who carries a $10 million US bounty and was designated a UNSC global terrorist in 2019, India maintains that these repeated bounty updates are merely empty gestures designed to satisfy global monitors without disrupting terror networks operating within Pakistan.
