Islamabad, Sep 16: Months after India dismantled key terror infrastructure under ‘Operation Sindoor’, a senior Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) commander has publicly acknowledged the devastating impact of the strikes on the group, including the death of family members of its founder, Masood Azhar.
The admission surfaced in a video circulating on social media, flagged by BJP IT cell chief Amit Malviya, showing JeM commander Masood Ilyas Kashmiri flanked by armed personnel. In the footage, Kashmiri concedes that JeM suffered “substantial losses” during the Indian armed forces’ precision strikes on Bahawalpur.
The remarks follow the Pahalgam terror attack that killed 26 people, after which India retaliated by targeting high-value assets of JeM and Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. Pakistan later confirmed that nine sites, including Bahawalpur, Kotli, and Muridke — all known terror hubs — had been hit.
Bahawalpur, Pakistan’s 12th largest city, has long been the epicenter of JeM operations, housing its headquarters at Jamia Masjid Subhan Allah, also called the Usman-o-Ali campus. Addressing a gathering, Kashmiri admitted, “On May 7, the family of Maulana Masood Azhar, including his women and children, were killed and torn to shreds in Bahawalpur.”
Formed in the early 2000s, JeM has carried out multiple terror strikes on Indian soil under Azhar’s leadership. After ‘Operation Sindoor’, Pakistani media also reported that Azhar himself admitted to losing 10 family members in the Indian offensive.
With morale within JeM at a low ebb, Pakistani authorities have reportedly tightened security for both LeT chief Hafiz Saeed and Azhar. Intelligence sources suggest JeM cadres are demoralized to a greater extent than LeT, largely because the Bahawalpur strikes hit JeM hardest.
Azhar’s movements have been severely restricted since the operation, with the ISI shifting him multiple times to avoid Indian surveillance. He was sheltered for nearly ten days in Rawalpindi before reports emerged, including claims by former Pakistani Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto, that he had been moved to Afghanistan.
JeM has since decided not to rebuild its Bahawalpur headquarters, instead seeking a new base closer to a Pakistani Army establishment for protection.
