JeM banned in Pak and its activities are monitored: Aslam

Pakistan said Masood Azhar calling for jihad against India was a one time event

Pakistan today sought to play down a recent address by Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) chief Masood Azhar calling for jihad against India, claiming it was a "one time event" and should not concern New Delhi.

"We have seen media reports that he has addressed a public meeting but probably, this is a one time event. He escaped scrutiny and he did it but I am sure you are aware that his organisation is banned in Pakistan and their activities are monitored," said Foreign Office spokesperson Tasnim Aslam.

She was responding to a question at a weekly news briefing on jihadi leaders like Azhar getting public space while the Pakistan government talks about peace with India. She added that "what an individual who belongs to a proscribed entity says should not concern India so much".

Aslam also raised the issue of what she said were "very provocative statements" purportedly made by the Indian Army chief but did not give details.

On January 26, about 10,000 people attended a rally organised in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir capital Muzaffarabad by JeM to launch a book written by Mohammad Afzal Guru, executed last year for his role in the 2001 attack on India's parliament.

Addressing the gathering by phone, Azhar called for jihad against India and claimed thousands were ready to join the fight.

Analysts described the rally as a show of strength by the JeM, blamed for the attack on India's parliament, and Azhar, released in exchange for passengers of a hijacked Indian Airlines flight in 1999.

Asked by another journalist about media reports that Azhar might address students at a Pakistani university, Aslam said: "I would not comment on speculative news items."

Responding to a query about terrorist Mast Gul, who was involved in the 1995 siege of Charar-e-Sharief shrine in Jammu and Kashmir and recently claimed responsibility for a suicide attack on Shias in Peshawar that killed nine persons, Aslam said he was a threat to Pakistan and its citizens.

"There are many people from proscribed entities who may have escaped to the area of Afghanistan and Pakistan border to avoid action against them," she said.