India on Dec 6 called upon Pakistan to take stringent action against terror group Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) chief Masood Azhar, following reports that the UN-designated global terrorist delivered a speech recently at a public gathering in Bahawalpur Pakistan.

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said that if the report is correct, then it has exposed Pakistan's "duplicity" in curbing terrorist activities.

"We demand strong action be taken against him (Azhar) and he should be brought to justice. There has been denial that he is not there in Pakistan," Randhir Jaiswal, the ministry’s spokesperson said.

"If the reports are correct, then they expose Pakistan's duplicity. Masood Azhar is involved in cross-border terror attacks on India and we want strong action to be taken against him," he added.

Masood was listed as an international terrorist by the United Nations Security Council in May 2019 and India designated him as a terrorist in September the same year.

Notably, Masood has been involved in the 2001 Parliament attack, the 2019 Pulwama terror attack that left 40 security personnel dead, the attack on the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly complex in 2001 that killed 38 people, another attack in Pathankot in 2016, and various terror attacks on BSF camps in Srinagar, Pulwama, and Jammu.

India had arrested him in 1994, but was forced to release him in exchange for hostages during the infamous IC-814 hijacking in 1999. He founded JeM after his release.

According to the UN Security Council, Jaish was associated with Usama bin Laden's Al-Qaida, and the Taliban for participating in the financing, planning, and facilitating of terror activities.

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