Pakistan releases Jaish-e-Mohammad chief Masood Azhar from custody

Pakistan has released Jaish-e-Mohammad chief and UN-designated terrorist Masood Azhar from preventive detention.

As per reports, the Pakistani government secretly released Masood Azhar from preventive detention in the early hours of Monday. 

Masood Azhar has been the orchestrator of major terror attacks on the Indian soil including the Pathankot air force base attack and more recently the Pulwama attack after which Indian Air Force carried out air strikes at Jaish terror camp in Balakot. 

United Nations designated Masood Azhar as a terrorist in May 2019 after Pakistan's all-weather friend China could not veto against the decision. 

Subsequently, the Pakistan establishment took Azhar into custody to fool the world in thinking that Pakistani state was committed to eradicating terrorism from its soil. 

Pakistan is already on the verge of being blacklisted by FATF the terror funding watchdog. 

It will be interesting to see how the international community responds to these actions by Pakistan.