Jaish chief Masood Azhar is alive: Pakistani media rejects death rumours

Pakistani media reports have claimed Masood Azhar is alive.

HIGHLIGHTS

• Masood Azhar mastermind behind 2001 Parliament attack and Pulwama attack
• Social media has been flooded with reports of Azhar's death
• There is no word from the Pakistani government so far

Family members of Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar has rejected reports of his death and clarified that the terror outfit chief is very much alive, a Pakistani media report has claimed.

Geo Urdu News has quoted unnamed sources close to the family of the JeM chief to confirm that Masood Azhar is alive. The channel said Azhar is "alive" but refrained from elaborating any further on his health condition.

There is no word from the Pakistani government so far. Earlier, Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi had said that Masood Azhar was unwell and was undergoing treatment.

"I don't know anything at this moment," Federal Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry told PTI, when asked about media reports claiming death of Masood Azhar.

Hamid Mir

✔@HamidMirPAK

Masood Azhar is still alive some people only want him to come on media and say “India is again wrong”

Michael Kugelman

✔@MichaelKugelman

The death of Masood Azhar, head of JeM, is the latest *unconfirmed* big development in the #India-#Pakistan crisis. Striking that this news emerges now, when there's growing pressure on Pakistan to rein in JeM. But then again he's been reported to be very ill for quite some time.

2,249

8:05 PM - Mar 3, 2019

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Naila Inayat नायला इनायत

✔@nailainayat

Nobel Peace Prize for Masood Azhar for not dying on us.

3,505

9:28 PM - Mar 3, 2019

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Since Sunday afternoon, speculation has been rife in the Indian media and especially on Twitter, with the hashtag #MasoodAzharDEAD hovering on top of Twitter trends throughout the latter part of the day.

Some media reports speculated over Masood Azhar's death and said that rumours were doing the rounds that the terrorist was killed during India's airstrikes on February 26 at the Balakot terror camp of Jaish.

Jaish-e-Mohammed claimed responsibility for the February 14 Pulwama terror attack that killed 40 CRPF men when a suicide bomber rammed his explosives-laden vehicle into a convoy.

India has since then mounted pressure on the Imran Khan government to act against the terror outfit and Masood Azhar.

However, Pakistan has denied Azhar's role in the terror attack and said that officials of the Pakistani government spoke to him and he denied any link to the attack.

Twelve days after the Pulwama attack, Indian Air Force (IAF) conducted pre-emptive non-military airstrikes on one of the biggest Jaish terror camp in Balakot, Pakistan and wiped out several terrorists who were undergoing training at the camp.

SOURCE