A spokesperson for the “Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan” has denied that Pakistan has demanded the handover of Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) chief Maulana Masood Azhar from Kabul.
“We’ve also seen this news in the media. But this is not true. Nobody has made such a demand from us,” said Zabihullah Mujahid in an interview with a news channel of Afghanistan a day after a section of the Pakistani media reported that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has written a letter to Kabul’s new rulers seeking custody of Maulana Masood Azhar. According to the letter, Masood Azhar has been hiding somewhere in the eastern Afghan province of Nangarhar.
“Jaish-e-Mohammad chief is not in Afghanistan. Such organisations can operate on Pakistan’s soil,” Mujahid added. “We’ll not allow anyone to use Afghanistan’s soil against any other country.” A section of Pakistani media reported on Wednesday that MoFA had written a letter to the Afghan foreign ministry seeking Azhar’s handover.
“We have written a one-page letter to Afghan foreign ministry, asking them to locate, report and arrest Masood Azhar, as we believe that he is hiding somewhere in Afghanistan,” a top official privy to the development was quoted as saying. Islamabad formally banned JeM on terrorism charges on January 14, 2002, during General (R) Pervez Musharraf’s rule in Pakistan.
After 17 years of ban on JeM, the Interior Ministry – after receiving credible intelligence – banned two more organisations named Al-Rehmat Trust, Bahawalpur and Al-Furqan Trust, Karachi on May 10, 2019.
Defunct JeM chief Azhar being a suspected terrorist also remained part of schedule four of the Anti-Terrorism Act 1999. He has allegedly planned multiple terrorist activities in different places.