Pakistan says militant leader Azhar not in custody

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - A Pakistani militant leader thought to be in custody in Pakistan is at large, Pakistan's foreign minister said Thursday, raising concern in India where he is one of the country's most wanted men.

Maulana Masood Azhar is leader of the Jaish-e-Mohammad militant group that for years has battled Indian security forces in its part of the divided Kashmir region.

A Pakistani intelligence official told Reuters this month that Azhar had been detained as part of a crackdown that Pakistani authorities launched after the militant attacks on the Indian city of Mumbai last month.

India has blamed Lashkar-e-Taiba and other "elements" in Pakistan for the attack. It also blames LeT and Jaish-e-Mohammad for an attack on the Indian parliament in 2001.

Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi sowed confusion when he told Pakistan's Dawn Television late Wednesday that Azhar was in custody, even though Pakistan's top diplomat in New Delhi was reported as saying Azhar was not being held in Pakistan.

Qureshi said Thursday he had been mistaken.

"That's not right. Other people have been detained but Mr. Masood Azhar is at large. We have no knowledge of his whereabouts," Qureshi told Reuters.

Tension has been simmering between nuclear-armed India and Pakistan since the Mumbai attacks, in which 179 people were killed, and India has imposed a "pause" on their nearly five-year-old peace process.

Analysts said the apparent confusion within the Pakistani government over Azhar did not bode well for bilateral ties.

"For them to say we will give full cooperation and then say we cannot locate these people, shows why India and Pakistan have not built mutual trust for the last eight years," former Indian foreign secretary Shashank told Reuters in New Delhi.

India's Times Now television ran a series of scathing headlines in its broadcasts Thursday saying "Pak lies to India" and "Pakistan lets Masood Azhar go free."

(Reporting by Kamran Haider in ISLAMABAD and Bappa Majumdar in NEW DELHI; Editing by Paul Tait)