Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar is dead Photo Credit: IANS Mohamad Masood Azhar

New Delhi: After speculations over Jaish-e-Mohammed chief and terrorist Masood Azhar's death started circulating in media, the terror outfit released a statement saying that he is alive and doing well. Earlier, a few local media outlets had claimed that Azhar was seriously injured during the air strike carried out by the IAF while a minister in Pakistan PM Imran Khan's cabinet had claimed that the terror commander's condition was very critical and was currently undergoing treatment in Pakistan.

Speculations about his death had started circulating on Twitter with many claiming that the terror chief had been killed in Balakot air strike conducted by the IAF. However, a few other Twitter users suggested that it's just another diversionary tactics by Pakistan after India's pressure. Masood Azhar is the founder and leader of the terrorist organisation Jaish-e-Mohammed which is active mainly in the PoK.

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Recently, Pakistan’s foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi during an interview to CNN had admitted that JeM chief Maulana Masood Azhar was in Pakistan but added that he is very unwell and is not in a position to even leave his house. Azhar’s group JeM was responsible for the Pulwama terror attack in which 40 CRPF jawans were martyred.

After being arrested by the Indian government, terrorists affiliated to Harkat-ul-Mujahideen hijacked the Indian Airlines Flight 814 (IC 814) in 1999 with tacit support from Pakistan's ISI to free Azhar and two other terrorists who were in the Indian custody.

The blue-eyed boy of the Pakistani military establishment and the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) became highly-active after his release and planned multiple attacks against India. JeM was behind the Parliament House attack in 2001 and he was the mastermind of the 2016 Pathankot attack on IAF base along with his brother.