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How Pakistan plans to rebuild Lashkar-e-Taiba terror hub, Muridke, that India struck
A satellite image shows Markaz Taiba following airstrikes in Muridke, Pakistan, May 7, 2025. Maxar Technologies/Handout via Reuters
Pakistan has reportedly decided to rebuild the Muridke area, where the headquarters of the banned terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) was hit by Indian strikes on May 7 under Operation Sindoor. Two Pakistani ministers visited those injured in the precision targeting by the Indian Armed Forces on the terror camp in Murdike, a small city in Pakistan's Punjab province.
While Pakistan use civilians as a shield , Muridke is known as the LeT's terror hub. India has maintained that it targeted terrorists, saying more than 100 were killed, resisting civilian casualties.
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India struck nine terror sites in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) early on May 7, including Markaz Taiba in Muridke and the Bahawalpur base of the Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM). The response came after the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack claimed the lives of 26 people. The Resistance Front (TRF), an offshoot of Lashkar-e-Taiba, had claimed responsibility for the massacre in Jammu and Kashmir.
Let's take a closer look.
Is Pakistan compensating terrorists?
Pakistan Federal Minister for Industries and Production Rana Tanveer Hussain and Punjab Housing Minister Bilal Yasin visited the injured in Muridke on Monday (May 13), as per Pakistan's The News International newspaper.
Hussain said that the Pakistani government has vowed to reconstruct the area at its own expense. 'Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Army Chief General Asim Munir will personally finance the reconstruction of a mosque damaged in the operation,' he said, India Today reported, citing Pakistani media.
Announcing the government's decision to reconstruct the mosque, he said that the Pak Prime Minister and the army chief have pledged to rebuild the mosque at their personal expense, the report added.
Pakistan has announced a compensation of PKR 10 million (Rs 3.02 crore) to PKR 18 million (Rs 5.4 crore) — depending on their ranks — for martyred soldiers.
Injured people will get PKR 1 million (about Rs 3 lakh) to PKR 2 million (about Rs 6 lakh).
Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has said that homes and mosques destroyed by Indian strikes will be rebuilt by the government.
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'The care of the children of martyrs is the responsibility of the government, and we will fulfil this duty,' he said, adding that the 'federal government will bear all costs for the treatment of the injured.'
India has refuted Pakistan's allegations that it hit any religious sites.
Last weekend, the Indian Armed Forces released the names of the Pakistani Army personnel and Pakistan's Punjab police officials who attended the funeral of terrorists in Muridke. They also released the pictures of the officials spotted there.
The funeral prayers for the three men killed in India's strikes in Muridke were led by Hafiz Abdur Rauf , Masood Azhar's brother and a US-designated terrorist. Civil officials and members of the banned Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) were also seen marking their presence.
Videos and images of the terrorists' funerals at different places surfaced on social media, showing several Pakistani army officials and personnel attending their last rites.
Moreover, a Sky News forensics and data team geolocated to Markaz Taiba several videos on TikTok, YouTube and Google, which expressed support for the LeT and '313', referring to the 313 Brigade, al-Qaida's military wing in Pakistan. These videos were shot before the Indian strikes on the Markaz Taiba complex.
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About Muridke terror camp
Markaz Taiba in Sheikhpura district's Muridke is the headquarters of Hafiz Saeed's terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba. Located in Nangal Sahdan, Muridke, the complex spans 82 acres and includes arms and physical training facilities.
The Markaz-e-Taiba, or the Taiba Centre, was established in 2000 as the headquarters of the Markaz-e-Dawa Wal Irshad (MDI), the LeT's parent organisation. The campus was home to schools, mosques, medical facilities and residential quarters, as per an Indian Express report.
The centre has links to Osama Bin Laden, who provided funds for building a mosque and a guest house within this complex in 2000.
Perpetrators of the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, including Ajmal Kasab, received 'Daura-e-Ribbat' (intelligence training) at this facility.
Muridke was hit by Indian strikes on May 7. Reuters
David Coleman Headley and Tahawwur Hussain Rana, the plotters of the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, along with co-conspirators Abdul Rehman Sayed, Haroon and Khurram, had visited Muridke.
LeT founder Hafiz Saeed and other terrorists of his outfit like Zaki Ur Rehman Lakhvi have residences in this facility.
A senior counterinsurgency officer told Indian Express that the Markaz-e-Taiba was a city in itself. 'The Lashkar headquarters had everything the terror operatives and their families needed. It was as organised as a military headquarters would be and that's not possible without state support.'
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Describing the Taiba centre the 'root of evil', he said, 'Muridke has been exporting terror not just to Kashmir, but many other parts of the world. All the top Lashkar commanders operated from there.'
With inputs from agencies
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