Masood Azhar | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Birth name | Muhammad Masood Azhar Alvi |
| Born | (1968-07-10)10 July 1968 (age 57) |
| Allegiance | Harkat-ul-Ansar,Harkat-ul-Mujahideen,Jaish-e-Mohammed |
| Relations | Abdul Rauf Azhar (brother) |
Muhammad Masood Azhar Alvi[a] (born 10 July or 7 August 1968) is a Pakistani militant leader, who is the founder and current leader of militant organisationJaish-e-Mohammed, a Pakistan-based IslamicDeobandi jihadist organisation.[1] His actions are not limited to theSouth Asian region; for instance,BBC News described him as "the man who brought jihad to Britain".[2] On 1 May 2019, he was listed as an international terrorist by theUnited Nations Security Council.[3][4][5]
Muhammad Masood Azhar Alvi[3] was born inBahawalpur, Punjab, Pakistan on 10 July 1968[6] (although some sources list his birth date as 7 August 1968[7]) as the third of 11 children. Azhar's father, Allah Bakhsh Shabbir, was theheadmaster at a government-run school as well as a cleric withDeobandi leanings, and his family operated a dairy and poultry farm.[6][8]
Azhar dropped out of mainstream school after class 8 and joined theJamia Uloom-ul-Islamia, from where he graduated out in 1989 as analim and was soon appointed as a teacher.[8]
The madrasa was heavily involved withHarkat-ul-Ansar and Azhar was subsequently assumed under its folds, after being enrolled for ajihad training camp in Afghanistan.[6] Despite failing to complete the course; he joined theSoviet–Afghan War and retired after suffering injuries. Thereafter, he was chosen as the head of Harkat's department of motivation. He was also entrusted with the editorial responsibilities for theUrdu-language magazineSad'e Mujahidin and theArabic-languageSawte Kashmir.[7][6][9]
Azhar later became thegeneral secretary of Harkat-ul-Ansar and visited many international locations to recruit, to raise funds and to spread the message ofPan-Islamism. Among his destinations wereZambia,Abu Dhabi,Saudi Arabia,Mongolia, theUnited Kingdom andAlbania.[6]
Azhar confessed that in 1993 he traveled toNairobi, Kenya to meet with leaders ofal-Itihaad al-Islamiya, anal-Qaeda-aligned Somali group, who had requested money and recruits fromHarkat-ul-Mujahideen (HuM). Indian intelligence officials believe that he made at least three trips toSomalia and that he also helped bringYemeni mercenaries to Somalia.[10]
In August 1993, Azhar entered the United Kingdom for a speaking, fundraising, and recruitment tour. His message ofjihad was given at some of Britain's most prestigious Islamic institutions, including theDarul Uloom Bury seminary, Zakariya Mosque, Madina Masjid in Blackburn and Burnley, andJamia Masjid. His message was that "substantial proportion of theKoran had been devoted to 'killing for the sake ofAllah' and that a substantial volume of sayings of the Islamic prophetMuhammad were on the issue of jihad." Azhar made contacts in Britain who helped to provide training and logistical support for the terror plots, including "7/7,21/7 and the attempt in2006 to smuggle liquid bomb-making substances on to transatlantic airlines."[2]Rashid Rauf, who was implicated in the 2006 transatlantic aircraft plot, was married to a relative of Azhar.[11]
In early 1994, Azhar travelled toSrinagar under a fake identity, to ease tensions between Harkat-ul-Ansar's feuding factions ofHarkat-ul-Jihad al-Islami andHarkat-ul-Mujahideen.[6] India arrested him in February fromKhanabal nearAnantnag and imprisoned him for his terrorist activities with the groups.[10][6] On being arrested, he said "Soldiers ofIslam have come from 12 countries to liberateKashmir. We will answer yourcarbines withrocket launchers"[12] He was imprisoned at theBadami Bagh Cantonment inSrinagar,Tihar Jail inDelhi, and lastly the Kot Balwal Jail inJammu (from where he would eventually be released).[13][14]
In July 1995, sixforeign tourists were kidnapped inJammu and Kashmir. The kidnappers, referring to themselves asAl-Faran (a pseudonym of the Harkat-ul-Mujahideen),[15] included the release of Masood Azhar among their demands.[6] One of the hostages managed to escape whilst another was found in a decapitated state in August.[10] The others were never seen or heard from since 1995.[16][17]FBI had interrogated Azhar multiple times during his jail-stay on the locus of the kidnappings.[10]
In 1998, U.S.'sCentral Intelligence Agency (CIA) in its report stated, "HuA, an Islamic extremist organisation that Pakistan supports in its proxy war against Indian forces in Kashmir, increasingly is using terrorist tactics against Westerners and random attacks on civilians that could involve Westerners to promote its pan-Islamic agenda." CIA also stated that HuA had abducted at least 13 persons, of which 12 were from western countries, in the period from early 1994 to 1998.[9]
Four years later, in December 1999, anIndian Airlines Flight 814 (IC814) en route fromKathmandu in Nepal toNew Delhi was hijacked and eventually landed inKandahar,Afghanistan after being flown to multiple locations. Kandahar at that time was controlled by theTaliban, which was supported by Pakistan'sInter-Services Intelligence. Masood Azhar was one of the three militants demanded to be released in exchange for freeing the hostages. Subsequently, Azhar was freed by theIndian government in a decision criticised by many includingAjit Doval as a "diplomatic failure", and that no one worth any consequence was contacted either by the (then)foreign minister (Jaswant Singh) or the (then)foreign secretary (Lalit Mansingh), and as a consequence, theIndian ambassador could not even get inside theAbu Dhabi airport.[18][19] The hijackers of IC814 were led by Masood Azhar's brother,[20] Ibrahim Athar. His release from Kot Bhalwal jail was supervised byIPS officer,S. P. Vaid.[21] His younger brotherAbdul Rauf Azhar had planned this attack. Once Masood Azhar was handed over to the hijackers, they fled to Pakistani territory. Pakistan had said the hijackers would be arrested if found. The Pakistani government also previously indicated that Azhar would be allowed to return home since he did not face any charges there.[22]
Shortly after his release, Azhar made a public address to an estimated 10,000 people inKarachi. He proclaimed, "I have come here because this is my duty to tell you that Muslims should not rest in peace until we have destroyedIndia," vowing to liberate the Kashmir region from Indian rule.[22]
In 1999, after Masood's release, the Harkat-ul-Ansar was proscribed by the U.S. and added to the list of banned terrorist organisations. This move forced Harkat-ul-Ansar to change its name to theHarkat-ul-Mujahideen (HuM).[9]
Azhar planned to start a new outfit namedJaish-e-Mohammed (JeM). He reportedly received assistance from Pakistan's spy agencyInter-Services Intelligence (ISI), theTaliban regime in Afghanistan,Osama bin Laden and multiple Sunni sectarian organisations based in Pakistan.[9] JeM is run by Azhar's family like a family enterprise.[9]Jamia Binoriamadarsa linked JeM with the Afghan Taliban.[9]
Jaish-e-Mohammed carried out a string of deadly attacks against Indian targets, including theattack on the Indian parliament in December 2001 that brought India and Pakistan to the brink of a full-scale war.[23] Theterrorist attack on theParliament of India in New Delhi happened on 13 December 2001. The perpetrators belonged toLashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), both Pakistan-based terrorist organisations.[24] The attack led to the deaths of five terrorists, sixDelhi Police personnel, twoParliament Security Service personnel and a gardener – in total 14 – and to increased tensions betweenIndia andPakistan, resulting in the2001–02 India–Pakistan standoff.[25]
Soon after the Indian parliament attack, on 29 December 2001, Masood Azhar was detained for a year by Pakistani authorities, after diplomatic pressure by India and the International community, in connection with the attack, but was never formally charged.[9] TheLahore High Court ordered an end to the house arrest on 14 December 2002, much to the fury of India.[26] Azhar was never arrested after that.[9]
On 7 December 2008, it was claimed that he was among several arrested by the Pakistani government after a military raid on a camp located on the outskirts ofMuzaffarabad in connection with the2008 Mumbai attacks. He continued to live inBhawalpur.[27][28] Pakistan's government denied it had arrested Masood Azhar and said it was unaware of his whereabouts[29]On 26 January 2014, Azhar reappeared after a seclusion of two years. He addressed a rally in Muzaffarabad, calling for the resumption of jihad in Kashmir. In March 2014, a spokesperson ofJaish-e-Mohammed claimed that he was inSrinagar, India.[30]
The2016 Pathankot attack on anIndian air base is said to have been masterminded by Masood Azhar and his brotherAbdul Rauf Azhar. They were in direct touch with terrorists even after the attack had begun. Indian investigative agencies have given dossiers containing proofs of Azhar's complicity in the terror attack and also sought a second ʽred corner noticeʼ from ʽInterpolʼ.[31][32]
On 14 February 2019, a convoy of vehicles carrying security personnel on theJammu–Srinagar National Highway was attacked by a vehicle-boundsuicide bomber inLethpora nearAwantipora,Pulwama district,Jammu and Kashmir, India. The attack resulted in the death of 44Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel and the attacker. The responsibility for the attack was claimed by Jaish-e-Mohammed.[33][34] He approved the attacks from the Pakistani Army Hospital where he is under protective custody.[35] After the attack,France,United Kingdom andUnited States moved a proposal at UN Security Council to ban Masood.[36]
According to Indian intelligence reports from 2025, Masood Azhar and his family were linked to a network of digital wallets used to financeJaish-e-Mohammed’s (JeM) operations. These wallets, operating through platforms such as EasyPaisa and SadaPay, were allegedly managed by Azhar’s son Abdullah Azhar, his brother Talha Al Saif, and other senior JeM figures. The reports indicated that funds were initially collected in primary wallets and then distributed to multiple secondary accounts, with approximately 30 new wallets created each month to avoid detection. This method, described as a form of “digital hawala,” was believed to have facilitated a significant portion of JeM’s financial activity, including arms purchases, operational costs, and support for Azhar’s family, with Pakistan’s intelligence agencyInter Services Intelligence (ISI) reportedly enabling the migration of JeM’s funding to these platforms.[37][38]
On 7 May 2025,India conducted missile strikes againstterrorist camps in Pakistan, in retaliation for thePahalgam attack, including Jaish-e-Mohammed's camp inBahawalpur. Masood Azhar reported the loss of ten family members, including his older sister and her husband, his nephew and his nephew's wife, his niece and five children from his family.[39][40] He however, did not list his brother (Abdul Rauf Azhar) among those killed.[41][42] In September 2025, JeM commander Masood Ilyas Kashmiri stated that Maulana Masood Azhar’s family was “torn into pieces” by Indian forces during the strikes on the group’s headquarters in Bahawalpur. Speaking at the Mission Mustafa Conference, Kashmiri expressed outrage over the attack, revealing that Azhar’s family members were killed despite their "sacrifices" in what he described as a jihad to protect Pakistan’s borders. His statement marked a rare public acknowledgment of the operation’s impact, with a separate note attributing the death of ten family members and four close associates to an Indian strike on Jamia Masjid Subhan Allah.[43][44]
TheU.S. Treasury is prohibiting Americans from "engaging in any transactions" with three Pakistan-based militants and a front group. Al Rehmat Trust, called "an operational front" for Jaish-e-Mohammed, was designated for providing support to and for acting for or on behalf of that group and Azhar was designated as aSpecially Designated Global Terrorist on theSpecially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List for acting on behalf of the group.[45][46][47]
The Chinese government blocked aUN Security Council Sanctions Committee listing of Azhar as a terrorist, thwarting international efforts to disrupt the activities of his group.[48][49]Starting in 2009, there had been 4 attempts to put Masood Azhar on the UN Security Council's counter-terrorism sanctions list. All the attempts were vetoed by China, citing 'lack of evidence'. China moved to protect Azhar again in October 2016 when it blocked India's appeal to the United Nations to label him as a terrorist.[50]China also blocked the US move to get Azhar banned by the UN in February 2017.[51] The most recent attempt was on 13 March 2019.[52] However, China pulled the blockade in May 2019, finally resulting listing of Masood Azhar as a global terrorist by theAl-Qaida and Taliban Sanctions Committee.[3][34]
Described as a "prolific writer",[53] he has authored some 20 books mainly onjihad,[54] including:
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Other | |