Maulana Masood Azhar
Maulana Masood Azhar is a Pakistani mujaheddin leader and the founder of the group Jaish-e-Mohammed, based mainly in the Pakistan-administered portion of the state of Kashmir.
India lists Maulana Masood Azhar as one of its most wanted man due to a history of militant activities.
Early life:
Maulana Masood Azhar was born in Bahawalpur on July 10, 1968 as one of ten siblings although some sources list his birth date as August 7, 1968 as the third of 11 children. His father, Allah Bakhsh Shabir, was the headmaster at a government-run school, and his family operated a dairy and poultry farm. He studied at the Binori mosque in Karachi, where he became involved with Harkat-ul-Ansar. After he suffered injuries in the Soviet-Afghan War, Azhar was chosen as the head of Harkat’s department of motivation and became an editor for the Urdu-language Sad’e Mujahidin and the Arabic-language Sawte Kashmir.
Maulana later became the general secretary of Harkat-ul-Ansar and visited many international locations to recruit, to raise funds and to spread the message of Pan-Islamism. Among his destinations were Zambia, Abu Dhabi, Saudi Arabia, Mongolia, the United Kingdom and Albania .
Activities in Somalia:
In 1993 he traveled to Nairobi, Kenya to meet with leaders of al-Itihaad al-Islamiya, an al-Qaeda aligned Somali group, who had requested money and recruits from Harkat-ul-Mujahideen (HuM). Indian intelligence officials believe that he made at least three trips to Somalia and that he also helped bring Yemeni mercenaries to Somalia.
1994 Arrest – 1999 Release:
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 and imprisoned him for his activities with the groups.
In 1995, foreign tourists were kidnapped in Jammu and Kashmir. The kidnappers, referring to themselves as Al-Faran, included the release of Masood Azhar among their demands. One of the hostages managed to escape but the rest were eventually killed.
In December 1999, he was freed 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. The hijackers of IC814 were led by Maulana Masood Azhar’s brother, Ibrahim Athar. The Pakistani government also previously indicated that Maulana Azhar would be allowed to return home since he did not face any charges there.
Shortly after his release, he made a public address to an estimated 10,000 people in Karachi. He proclaimed, “I have come here because this is my duty to tell you that Muslims should not rest in peace until we have destroyed America and India.”
2001 Arrest – 2002 Release:
Maulana Masood Azhar’s Jaish-e-Mohammed carried out a string of deadly attacks against Indian targets, including the attack on the Indian parliament in December 2001 that brought India and Pakistan to the brink of a full-scale war.
Soon after the Indian parliament attack, he was detained for a year by Pakistani authorities in connection but was never formally charged. The Lahore High Court ordered an end to the house arrest on 14 December 2002, much to the fury of India.
On December 7, 2008, it was claimed that he was among several arrestedby the Pakistani government after a military raid on a camp located onthe outskirts of Muzaffarabad in connection with the November 2008 terror attacks in Mumbai. Some reports indicated that he had been placed under house arrest in Bhawalpur. Pakistan’s government denied it had arrested Masood Azhar and said it was unaware of his whereabouts.
India lists Maulana Masood Azhar as one of its most wanted man due to a history of militant activities.
Early life:
Maulana Masood Azhar was born in Bahawalpur on July 10, 1968 as one of ten siblings although some sources list his birth date as August 7, 1968 as the third of 11 children. His father, Allah Bakhsh Shabir, was the headmaster at a government-run school, and his family operated a dairy and poultry farm. He studied at the Binori mosque in Karachi, where he became involved with Harkat-ul-Ansar. After he suffered injuries in the Soviet-Afghan War, Azhar was chosen as the head of Harkat’s department of motivation and became an editor for the Urdu-language Sad’e Mujahidin and the Arabic-language Sawte Kashmir.
Maulana later became the general secretary of Harkat-ul-Ansar and visited many international locations to recruit, to raise funds and to spread the message of Pan-Islamism. Among his destinations were Zambia, Abu Dhabi, Saudi Arabia, Mongolia, the United Kingdom and Albania .
Activities in Somalia:
In 1993 he traveled to Nairobi, Kenya to meet with leaders of al-Itihaad al-Islamiya, an al-Qaeda aligned Somali group, who had requested money and recruits from Harkat-ul-Mujahideen (HuM). Indian intelligence officials believe that he made at least three trips to Somalia and that he also helped bring Yemeni mercenaries to Somalia.
1994 Arrest – 1999 Release:
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 and imprisoned him for his activities with the groups.
In 1995, foreign tourists were kidnapped in Jammu and Kashmir. The kidnappers, referring to themselves as Al-Faran, included the release of Masood Azhar among their demands. One of the hostages managed to escape but the rest were eventually killed.
In December 1999, he was freed 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. The hijackers of IC814 were led by Maulana Masood Azhar’s brother, Ibrahim Athar. The Pakistani government also previously indicated that Maulana Azhar would be allowed to return home since he did not face any charges there.
Shortly after his release, he made a public address to an estimated 10,000 people in Karachi. He proclaimed, “I have come here because this is my duty to tell you that Muslims should not rest in peace until we have destroyed America and India.”
2001 Arrest – 2002 Release:
Maulana Masood Azhar’s Jaish-e-Mohammed carried out a string of deadly attacks against Indian targets, including the attack on the Indian parliament in December 2001 that brought India and Pakistan to the brink of a full-scale war.
Soon after the Indian parliament attack, he was detained for a year by Pakistani authorities in connection but was never formally charged. The Lahore High Court ordered an end to the house arrest on 14 December 2002, much to the fury of India.
On December 7, 2008, it was claimed that he was among several arrestedby the Pakistani government after a military raid on a camp located onthe outskirts of Muzaffarabad in connection with the November 2008 terror attacks in Mumbai. Some reports indicated that he had been placed under house arrest in Bhawalpur. Pakistan’s government denied it had arrested Masood Azhar and said it was unaware of his whereabouts.