Islamabad, Sep 16 (IANS) Months after India dismantled major terror infrastructure under ‘Operation Sindoor’, a Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) commander has admitted that the family of the terror outfit’s founder, Masood Azhar, was “torn to shreds” in the Indian armed forces’ strikes on Bahawalpur.

BJP IT cell chief Amit Malviya reported a video, doing rounds on social media, where a JeM commander, Masood Ilyas Kashmiri, flanked by armed personnel, is conceding the substantial losses suffered by the terror group during India’s ‘Operation Sindoor’.

The acknowledgement comes in the aftermath of the Pahalgam terror attack that claimed 26 lives, which prompted India to retaliate by destroying high-value terror targets of JeM and Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir.

Pakistan itself later confirmed that nine sites had been struck, including Bahawalpur, Kotli, and Muridke — areas long known as terror strongholds.

Bahawalpur is Pakistan’s 12th largest city and a major hub of JeM operations. It is home to the terror group’s headquarters at Jamia Masjid Subhan Allah, also referred to as the Usman-o-Ali campus.

Addressing a gathering, Masood Ilyas Kashmiri said, “This nonsense of terrorism, which we hold close to our hearts, for the ideological and geographical boundaries of this country (Pakistan), sometimes we clashed with Delhi, sometimes with Kabul and sometimes with Kandahar.”

“After sacrificing everything, on May 7, the family of Maulana Masood Azhar, including his women and children, were killed and torn to shreds in Bahawalpur,” he added.

Jaish-e-Mohammad, formed in the early 2000s after UN-designated terrorist Masood Azhar called for jihad in Kashmir, has carried out numerous attacks on Indian soil.

After the precision strikes of ‘Operation Sindoor’, Pakistani media also reported that Azhar himself admitted to losing 10 family members in the Indian offensive.

Now, with the Pakistan establishment helping terror groups such as the LeT and JeM rebuild their facilities, it is also important for them to keep the chiefs safe. In the aftermath of the Indian retaliatory strikes and also the recent ‘Operation Mahadev’, the morale of the cadre is said to be extremely low.

In such an event, the establishment has given top-notch security to LeT chief Hafiz Saeed and JeM head Masood Azhar. Intelligence officials say that when compared to the two groups, the morale of the JeM terrorists is far worse than that of the LeT.

This is due to several factors. If one looks at ‘Operation Sindoor’, it was the JeM which was hit the hardest.

While Azhar cannot make any public appearances now since the Indian agencies are tracking him very closely, the ISI has shifted his location multiple times after ‘Operation Sindoor’.

For nearly ten days, he was kept at a safe house in Rawalpindi. In the wake of this, Pakistan’s former Foreign Minister, Bilawal Bhutto, had said that Azhar was taken to Afghanistan.

Moreover, the JeM has also decided not to rebuild its headquarters at this location. They are chasing a location that is closer to an Army establishment in Pakistan.

–IANS

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