UN-designated terrorist Masood Azhar spotted in PoK, will Bilawal Bhutto ask Pakistan government to hand him over to India?

UN-designated international terrorist and chief of Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeM), Masood Azhar, has been spotted in the Gilgit-Baltistan area of the Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK). He was seen in Skardu, around the Sadpara Road locality, about 1,000 km away from his stronghold of Bahawalpur. At least two mosques, affiliated madrasas, and many private and government guest houses are there, and it is believed that the JeM chief has been hiding there since India put pressure on Pakistan in the wake of the Pahalgam terror attack, in which 26 unarmed civilians were killed.

Masood Azhar escapes on ISI's tip-off

Responding to the Pahalgam terror attack, India carried out aerial attacks on the Jaish-e-Muhammad stronghold; however, Masood Azhar escaped the attacks as he had left the place on the tip-off of the Pakistan government and its intelligence outfit, Inter Services Intelligence or the ISI. The JeM chief has been seen in the PoK area days after former Pakistan Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said that terrorists like Masood Azhar and Hafiz Saeed can be handed over to India, if it agrees to talks. He said, "If and when the Indian government shares information with us that he is on Pakistani soil, we would be more than happy to arrest him."  However, Bhutto also denied that the JeM chief was in Pakistan; he said the terrorist might he hiding in Afghanistan. 

Who is Masood Azhar?

If media reports are to be believed, Azhar Masood has two known establishments in Pakistan: Jamia Subhan Allah, Jaish's headquarters targeted by India during Operation Sindoor, and Jamia Usman O Ali, a mosque located in a densely populated part of the city. He has been the mastermind of many terrorist attacks in India, including the 2016 Pathankot airbase attack and the 2019 Pulwama attack, in which 40 soldiers were killed.