New Delhi, July 8 (IANS) As India’s Operation Sindoor continues to cast a long shadow over Pakistan-based terror outfits, the Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), weakened by heavy losses and struggling to regain operational strength, has launched an extensive digital propaganda campaign in a bid to stay relevant and rebuild its support base, intelligence officials have said.

According to officials, Operation Sindoor dealt a severe blow to the JeM, including the destruction of its headquarters at Bahawalpur and the loss of several cadres and senior functionaries. While the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba has shown signs of gradual revival through renewed infiltration attempts and restructuring of its command network, JeM has failed to recover at a similar pace.

An Intelligence Bureau official said that intercepts suggest that the Jaish-e-Mohammed has been attempting to run a major digital propaganda campaign. The campaign has two objectives — to radicalise a large number of youth both in India and Pakistan, and to remain relevant so that the cadres do not move away, the official said.

The official added that when it comes to terror-related operations in India, the Jaish-e-Mohammed has been the most brutal after the Lashkar-e-Taiba. Currently, the outfit is unable to operate with the kind of ease it had managed to all these years. Even operations in Jammu and Kashmir are down owing to tight security, both within the Union Territory and the India-Pakistan border.

In this situation, there is a sense of desperation that has crept in, and hence the Jaish-e-Mohammed, under the guidance of the ISI, has decided to launch an extensive propaganda campaign.

Another official said that the propaganda campaign would include Jihad-related material. There are also plans afloat to put out doctored videos aimed at defaming the Indian government and army. The focus would be on creating doctored videos with a fake message of how the Indian armed forces are torturing the people of Jammu and Kashmir.

The official added that such propaganda would work for the Jaish-e-Mohammed both in India and Pakistan. In India, it is aimed at radicalising the youth and ensuring that they recruit and create homegrown terror outfits. In Pakistan, these doctored videos would be used to send out a message to the local youth about why they should join the terror group and fight against India.

The experts say the Jaish-e-Mohammed is currently facing a crisis like never before. This is the longest that the top leadership has remained silent, courtesy Operation Sindoor that rattled the terror group.

Many are asking about the whereabouts of Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar, and the leadership has failed to provide any sort of explanation. Officials say that the Jaish-e-Mohammed did manage to rebuild the Markaz Subhan Allah headquarters at Bahawalpur. The structure has indeed come up, but the activity remains low, officials said.

This could also be to do with the fact that the outfit is not prepared to come under the radar of the Indian agencies this soon. Before Operation Sindoor, the Bahawalpur facility had around 600 active cadres, which included the top leadership. However, those numbers have dwindled, and many top leaders have been moved closer to army installations to ensure their safety.

Even Azhar does not visit this facility anymore, and this is a deliberate strategy. An official said that during the Indian operation that was carried out to avenge the Pahalgam attack, many of Azhar’s leaders were targeted and killed. Since then, Azhar has remained incommunicado, and there are reports that he may be very unwell, the official also added.

–IANS

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