India-Pakistan conflict: In a startling revelation, senior Pakistani politician and former foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari told Al Jazeera that Pakistan has been unable to locate or apprehend Masood Azhar, the UN-designated global terrorist and chief of the proscribed group Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM). Bhutto’s admission has renewed global attention on Pakistan’s track record of handling terror operatives within its borders.

What Bilawal Bhutto said about Masood Azhar?

Speaking in an interview with Al Jazeera, Bhutto, the head of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), acknowledged that Islamabad had failed to arrest Masood Azhar. “As far as Masood Azhar is concerned, we have been unable to arrest him or identify him. Given his past within the Afghan jihad context, it is our belief that he is in Afghanistan,” Bhutto said.

He added that Pakistan would be “more than happy” to act if India provided actionable intelligence proving Azhar is in Pakistan. “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. The fact is, the Indian government is not…,” he claimed, leaving the sentence hanging.

Hafiz Saeed “not free”, claims Bhutto

Responding to a question about a recent New York Times report that claimed Lashkar-e-Taiba founder Hafiz Saeed was free, Bhutto said the report was “factually incorrect.” “Hafiz Saeed is in the custody of the Pakistani state,” he insisted.

India has long demanded that Pakistan take action against Saeed and Azhar, citing their direct involvement in terror attacks including the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, the 2016 Pathankot airbase attack, and the 2019 Pulwama suicide bombing that killed 40 Indian paramilitary personnel.

What Bhutto said on India-Pakistan counterterrorism cooperation?

Bhutto appeared to suggest that Pakistan expects reciprocity from India in counterterrorism cooperation. “When you have a CT [counterterrorism] cooperation with any country, we provide groups of our concern, they provide groups of their concern,” he said, citing past joint efforts with Western countries that reportedly helped avert terror attacks in cities like London and New York.

Bhutto blames Afghanistan

Deflecting attention from Pakistan’s failure to apprehend Azhar, Bhutto blamed the situation on the broader geopolitical dynamics in Afghanistan. “If he is in Afghanistan, the West has now handed over [the country] to a group that once upon a time they called terrorists,” he said, referring to the Taliban’s return to power.

He added, “It’s not possible for Pakistan to go and do what all of NATO was unable to do within Afghanistan. There’s no reason for Pakistan to want to see this individual or any individual of concern to be active.”

Azhar’s release from an Indian jail in exchange for hostages during the 1999 IC-814 hijacking and his subsequent role in multiple terror attacks in India have made him a key figure in India’s dossier of demands to Pakistan. Despite being listed as a global terrorist by the United Nations Security Council in 2019, Islamabad has repeatedly claimed it cannot trace him, a claim New Delhi has dismissed as evasive.