Maulana Masood Azhar, one of the most wanted terrorist in India has been detained by Pakistan on Wednesday, after Indian declared him as the mastermind of recent Pathankot Air Force base attack and shared evidences with authorities in Pakistan.
- Born in Bahawalpur area of Pakistan’s Punjab province.
- Joined militant group Harkat-ul-Ansar and became its chief in Motivation department.
- In 1993, Azhar confessed to have traveled to Nairobi, Kenya to meet with leaders of al-Itihaad al-Islamiya, an al-Qaeda-aligned Somali group.
- In early 1994, Azhar traveled to Srinagar to ease tensions between Harkat-ul-Ansar’s feuding factions of Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami and Harkat-ul-Mujahideen.
- India arrested him in February, 1994 and imprisoned him for his terrorist activities with the groups.
- Azhar was arrested in Kashmir in 1994 while travelling on a forged Portuguese passport.
- In December, 1999, Azhar was finally released along with Omar Sheikh and Mushtaq Ahmed Zargar by the Indian government in exchange for passengers on the hijacked Indian Airlines Flight 814 (IC814) that had eventually landed in Kandahar, Afghanistan, which at the time the Taliban controlled.
- After his release, Azhar set up the Jaish to fight Indian forces in Kashmir.
- Azhar was named by India as a prime suspect in the 2001 attack on parliament – nine people were killed as terrorists drove into the parliament complex and opened fire.
- On October 1, 2001, Jaish-e-Mohammed carried out an attack on the Jammu and Kashmir State Legislative Assembly complex in Srinagar.
- In December 2003, JeM plotted a suicide attack targeting then Pakistan president General Pervez Musharraf.
- On Jan 2, 2016 JeM attacked Indian Air Force base in Pathankot.
- TAGS
- Jaish-e-Mohammad
- Maulana Masood Azhar
- Pakistan
- Terrorism
