2 years after Pulwama, Interpol issues notices

APART FROM MASOOD AZHAR, RED NOTICES HAVE BEEN ISSUED AGAINST HIS TWO BROTHERS AS WELL AS A COUSIN

NEW DELHI: Two years after a terror attack on a Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) convoy in south Kashmir’s Pulwama killed 40 security personnel, Interpol has issued red notices against Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) chief Maulana Masood Azhar and three of his relatives in connection with the brazen strike that brought the already fraught ties between India and Pakistan to a new low, people familiar with the development said on Saturday.

The National Investigation Agency (NIA), which is probing the case, hopes that authorities in Pakistan, where Azhar and his aides are believed to be hiding, will honour the red notices and take action against the terror masterminds.

Apart from Azhar, red notices, or global arrest warrants, have been issued against his brothers Abdul Rauf Asghar and Ibrahim Athar, and his cousin Ammar Alvi.

The development comes at a time when the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has begun a series of online meetings that will review Pakistan’s actions to counter terror financing amid signs that Islamabad is yet to completely implement the multilateral watchdog’s action plan. The crucial plenary meeting during February 22-25 will take a final call on Pakistan, which is in FATF’s “grey list”.

The fresh Interpol notices against Azhar and Rauf are in addition to the red notices issued against them previously — for their role in the attack on Indian Parliament in 2001 as well as the deadly attack on the Pathankot air base in 2016. Rauf has another Interpol red notice against him for hijacking Indian Airlines’s Flight IC-814 in 1999, which forced the government to release Azhar and two other terrorists (Mushtaq Zargar and Omar Sheikh) in exchange of about 150 passengers on board.

“Azhar and his brother live freely in Pakistan despite killing hundreds of innocent people… they are globally designated wanted terrorists and have three to four Interpol red notices pending against them. Pakistan must arrest them and hand them over to India,” said a counterterrorism official, requesting anonymity.

Under FATF pressure, Pakistan issued an arrest warrant against Azhar last month. But Indian counterterrorism officials call it “total eyewash”.