Islamabad, Oct. 24 (PTI): The Pakistan authorities have frozen bank accounts of over 5,100 terror suspects, including the Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) chief Masood Azhar who is under "protective custody" after the terror attack on the Pathankot air base, officials said.

"Following a request from the ministry of the interior, we have frozen accounts of all top suspected terrorists, including Masood Azhar, son of Allah Bux," said a senior State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) official who is part of a team monitoring the crack down on the terrorists' finances.

These accounts carried a net worth of over Pakistan Rs 400 million, revealed the official.

The interior ministry sent three different lists of thousands of suspects, including kingpins of some proscribed organisations, The News quoted the official as saying.

Around 1,200 suspects whose accounts were frozen by the SBP were listed in category "A" of the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997, a term used for terrorists put on exceptional risk or high risk, the paper reported. "Azhar's name was listed in category 'A' of the 4th Schedule," the paper quoted officials as saying.

"It happened since the government put the JeM chief under 'protective custody' of security agencies after terrorists attacked the Pathankot air base," the officials said.

After the attack in January, India had written to the UN calling for Azhar to be listed under the UN Sanctions Committee.

The National Counterterrorism Authority (Nacta) sent around 5,500 names to the SBP earlier this month, they said.

The Nacta national coordinator, Ihsan Ghani, confirmed that over 5,000 accounts had been frozen by the SBP.

"These accounts hold net amount worth Rs 400 million," he said. On Azhar's accounts, Ghani said he would return with more updates later this week.

"More than 3,078 accounts of suspects whose accounts were frozen belonged to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Fata, 1,443 from Punjab, 226 from Sindh, 193 from Balochistan, 106 from Gilgit-Baltistan and 27 from the Islamabad Capital Territory," the paper said.

Accounts of other suspects, such as cleric of Islamabad's Lal Masjid, Maulana Aziz, Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat leaders Maulvi Ahmed Ludhianvi and Aurangzeb Faroogi, Mati-ur Rehman of al Qaida, Mansoor alias Ibrahim of Tehreek-e-Taliban and Qari Ehsan alias Ustad Huzaifa and Ramzan Mengal of Lashkar-e- Jhangvi, were also frozen, the paper added.

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