Masood Azhar was also detained after 2001 Indian parliament attack

LAHORE: Born in Bahawalpur on July 10 or on August 7, 1968, the 47-year old Maulana Massod Azhar was also detained by the Pakistani authorities after the December 2001 Indian Parliament attack, but was never formally charged. 

Now wanted in India for the January 2016 Pathankot Air Base terror attack, Masood Azhar’s outfit Jaish-e-Muhammad was blamed by India for orchestrating the 2001 Indian Parliament attack, which had led to deaths of 14 people, including five perpetrators.

On December 13, 2001, five militants, armed with AK-47 rifles, grenade launchers, pistols and grenades, had infiltrated the Parliament House in a car with Home Ministry’s and Parliament number plates and labels to deceive the security of the premier building in New Delhi.

Both Indian Rajya Sabha (Senate) and Lok Sabha (National Assembly) had adjourned for 40 minutes prior to the incident. The then Indian Home Minister, LK Advani, was along the parliamentarians who were in the building at the time of the attack.

Later, in a packed courtroom on December 16, 2002, Special Judge SN Dhingra had convicted three of the four accused, in this case. Maulana Masood Azhar, Ghazi Baba alias Abu Jehadi and Tariq Ahmed were also convicted in absentia. 

(Reference: (Frontline magazine’s January 4, 2002 edition)

On December 14, 2002 or just two days before the Indian court’s verdict, the Lahore High Court had then ordered an end to Masood Azhar’s house arrest, much to the dismay and disappointment of India.

The December 14, 2002 edition of the “BBC News” had reported: “India has reacted furiously to the freeing on court orders of an outlawed militant leader in Pakistan. A Foreign Ministry spokesman said the decision showed the Pakistani authorities were not serious in pursuing charges against Maulana Masood Azhar. The group he leads, Jaish-e-Mohammad, is accused of a string of deadly attacks on Indian targets, including one on parliament in Delhi a year ago.”

The reputed British media house had maintained: “Azhar was detained shortly after that attack, but the Lahore High Court said there were insufficient grounds to keep him under house arrest without charge any longer. It ordered his immediate release. He is the second militant leader to be released in Pakistan in a month. Delhi was outraged in November when the founder and former leader of Lashkar-e-Toiba, also blamed in the Parliament attack, was freed in similar circumstances. The Parliament attack, which Pakistan condemned and denied any involvement in, brought the nuclear-armed neighbours to the brink of war. International pressure has helped ease tensions in recent months.”

The BBC had added: “Maulana Masood Azhar has been involved in the fight to oust India from Kashmir for more than a decade. He was brought amid high security to the court in Lahore, where hundreds of supporters greeted him with shouts of "God is great". During a brief appearance before judges, he said he was innocent and should be freed. Azhar spent time in Indian custody, but was released three years ago in exchange for passengers on a hijacked Indian Airlines jet. Two others were also set free at the time - Omar Sheikh, since convicted in Pakistan of murdering Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl, and another militant, Mushtaq Ahmed Zargar. All three are on India's most wanted list of 20 people it accuses of terrorism.”