Why was Bahawalpur hit? Its link with Masood Azhar and Jaish

India Today

06-05-2025

The Indian armed forces struck terror bases in Pakistan in overnight operations. Pakistan acknowledged strikes on nine sites in Kotli, Muridke and Bahawalpur.
The main targets of the strikes, called Operation Sindoor, were the jihadist structures of Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) and Lashkar-e-Taiba, the two terrorist organisations responsible for major attacks on Indian soil over the past three decades. WHY BAHAWALPUR?
The 12th largest city in Pakistan is the home of Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM). Located about 400 km from Lahore, it hosts the group's operational base at the Jamia Masjid Subhan Allah complex, also known as the Usman-o-Ali campus.
The Jamia Masjid was among the sites targeted by India. The campus is said to be spread over 18 acres and serves as JeM's hub for recruitment, fundraising, and indoctrination.
The founder of JeM, Maulana Masood Azhar, was born in Bahawalpur and lives there in a heavily-guarded complex. The JeM was officially banned in 2002, but the punitive measure was implemented only on paper, with the JeM allowed full operational freedom to run its camp.
The JeM camp, incidentally, is just a few miles from an army cantonment – the headquarters of Pakistan's 31 Corps. Bahawalpur also reportedly has a secret nuclear facility. The proximity to the cantonment has been seen as proof of the ISI's support and protection to the JeM. Jaish headquarters in Bahawalpur
Jamia Masjid Subhan Allah: The mosque, disguised as a seminary, was funded through the Al-Rahmat Trust, a frontal organisation of the JeM. The mosque was a basic structure until 2011 but was turned into a large complex with training facilities by 2012.
Satellite imagery of Bahawalpur shows a 18-acre facility with intermittent construction and development. The complex has a grand central mosque and a madrassa for over 600 students (trainees). It also has a swimming pool, stables for horses and a gymnasium.
The JeM: On December 24, 1999, five Harkat-ul-Mujahideen terrorists hijacked an Indian Airlines flight. Carrying 190 passengers and crew from Kathmandu to Delhi, the plane was diverted to Amritsar, Lahore, Dubai, and finally Kandahar, Afghanistan, under Taliban control.
On October 31, after intense negotiations, India complied with their demand to release three terrorists — Masood Azhar, Omar Sheikh, and Mushtaq Zargar — in exchange for the hostages.
Masood Azhar: Born in 1968, Masood Azhar, a stocky man with a short beard, was arrested in 1994 in India for terrorism. Prior to his arrest, he was a cleric and member of the Harkat-ul-Mujahideen (HuM) based in Afghanistan.
He founded the JeM soon after being released. Inspired by the Deobandi school of radical Islam, the JeM has collaborated with other active terror groups to conduct several attacks in India since 2000, including the attack on the J&K Assembly and Parliament.
The JeM, meaning "army of Muhammad", dreams of integrating Kashmir into Pakistan under a radical interpretation of Sharia law. According to several reports, JeM was launched on January 31, 2000, in Karachi.
Before launching his terror ops, Azhar is believed to have travelled to Afghanistan to seek the blessings of Osama bin Laden, the erstwhile al-Qaeda chief.
His organisation was helped by the ISI, not just with infrastructure but also by funding tours. The first few recruits of the group came from the HuM cadres.
While the Bahawalpur headquarters is primarily used for recruitment, fundraising, and ideological training, JeM's actual terror training camps are reportedly located in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK).
In 2019, following the Pulwama attack, the Pakistani government, under international pressure, announced it had taken administrative control of the Bahawalpur headquarters.
The Punjab government appointed an administrator to manage the campus, but Indian observers and intelligence sources dismissed this as a cosmetic move, noting that Masood Azhar had reportedly left Bahawalpur and was under the protection of the Pakistani military. JAISH AND ITS ATTACKS
April 2000: JeM launched the first suicide bombing in Jammu and Kashmir when a 17-year-old recruit, Afaq Ahmad Shah, detonated an explosives-laden car outside the Indian Army's 15 Corps headquarters in Badami Bagh, Srinagar, killing four soldiers.
October 2001: Over 30 people killed in a suicide bombing at the Jammu and Kashmir legislative assembly in Srinagar.
December: JeM and the Lashkar terrorists launched a combined attack on the Indian Parliament in New Delhi, killing 14 people, including eight security personnel. This attack led to a major military standoff between India and Pakistan in 2001.
January 2016: Three security personnel were killed in an attack on the Pathankot airbase in India.
September 2016: JeM killed 19 Indian soldiers in an attack on the Uri brigade headquarters. In response, India conducted "surgical strikes" on JeM camps in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.
February 2019: An attack on a CRPF convoy killed 40 Indian soldiers. JeM claimed responsibility for the attack. Tension between India and Pakistan escalated after India conducted air raids on Balakot, striking terror camps in Pakistan.
The recent attack on Pahalgam is believed to have been launched by an affiliate of the JeM, with help from the LeT. The group has been using proxies like the Kashmir Tigers and Kashmir Freedom Army to evade sanctions. JAISH LEADERSHIP
Masood Azhar: Founder and nominal leader. He was designated a global terrorist by the UN in May 2019. He is said to be suffering from kidney ailments, limiting his public appearances. He was last seen in June 2024 at a wedding. His brother, Abdul Rauf Azhar, is also an important leader of the JeM.
Shah Nawaz Khan (Sajjid Jihadi) and Maulana Mufti Mohammad Asghar are the group's other leaders. They reportedly oversee the training of over 300 recruits in Pakistan, Muzaffarabad and some areas of Kashmir.