Who is Maulana Masood Azhar, why does Pakistan back him and China not block him

China once again stood in the way of a ban on Maulana Masood Azhar, the dreaded terrorist who heads the Jaish-e-Mohammad. India has complained time and again and even handed out proof about Azhar's involvement in scores of terror strikes that include, Pathankot, Uri among others.

Who is Maulana Masood Azhar and how did he become such a dangerous terrorist, a fact that Pakistan refuses to accept.

Azhar was born in Bahawalpur, Punjab on 10 July 1968 as one of ten siblings. Azhar's father, Allah Bakhsh Shabbir, was the headmaster at a government-run school, and his family operated a dairy and poultry farm. Azhar studied at the Jamia Uloom ul Islamia Banuri Town in Karachi, where he became involved with Harkat-ul-Ansar.

After he suffered injuries in the Soviet-Afghan War, Azhar was chosen as the head of Harkat's department of motivation and became an editor for the Urdu-language Sad'e Mujahidin and the Arabic-language Sawte Kashmir.

Azhar later became the general secretary of Harkat-ul-Ansar and visited many international locations.

Azhar visited Nairobi in Kenya to meet with leaders of various terrorist groups linked with the al-Qaeda. In 1993, he was in the UK on a fund raising mission. In 1994, he was arrested in Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir. In 1995, terrorists of the Al-Faran kidnapped foreign tourists and among the many demands was also the release of Azhar. All the tourists were killed barring one who managed to escape.

In 1999, he was released in exchange for the hostages aboard IC-814 which was hijacked and routed to Kandahar, Afghanistan. Upon his return to Pakistan, he floated the Jaish-e-Mohammad. This outfit then carried out the deadly Parliament attack.

Since then the Jaish has carried out a series of attacks in India. Several requests have been made to either extradite him or at least put him to trial. None of those requests were accepted by Pakistan as he along with the Lashkar-e-Tayiba's Hafiz Saeed continue to remain the ISI's most strategic assets.

OneIndia News