Indian Armed Forces launched a strike on May 7, targeting nine terror infrastructure sites in Pakistan and Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK) under Operation Sindoor. The operation resulted in the elimination of key terror operatives, including Mohammad Yusuf Azhar, the brother-in-law of Jaish-e-Mohammad chief Masood Azhar, according to sources.
According to sources, Yusuf Azhar, a key member of the proscribed terrorist organisation Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), was responsible for handling weapons training for JeM operatives and was involved in multiple terrorist attacks in Jammu & Kashmir. Azhar was also involved in the conspiracy to hijack Indian Airlines aircraft IC-814 from Kathmandu (Nepal) to Delhi. A Red Corner notice number A-565/6-2000 was issued against him.
Judea Pearl, father of Jewish-American Journalist Daniel Pearl, who was beheaded on camera in 2002 by terrorists, clarified reports of Azhar’s death and his connection to his son’s murder. “I want to thank all of you who reached out to me today in response to the news that India’s military forces have eliminated Abdul Rauf Azhar, a man described as ‘responsible for the kidnapping and murder of my son, Daniel.’ I want to clarify: Azhar was a Pakistani extremist and leader of the terrorist organization Jaish-e-Mohammed. While his group was not directly involved in the plot to abduct Danny, it was indirectly responsible. Azhar orchestrated the hijacking that led to the release of Omar Sheikh, the man who lured Danny into captivity. Sheikh was later sentenced to death but ultimately released from prison and kept in a “Government Safe House”,” Pearl said in a post on X.
Former Journalist and colleague of Daniel Pearl at US-based Wall Street Journal, Asra Nomani, hailed India’s recent Operation Sindoor in Bahawalpur, which she revealed the place used by Pakistan for its “home-grown terrorists”. In a post on X, Nomani said that when India started its action against Pakistan, she had only one city’s name that was Bahawalpur.
“I still have chills in my heart from when I first heard that town’s name in late January 2002. For the 23 years since, I have reported on how Pakistani intelligence and military leaders have used that city, Bahawalpur, in the southern province of Punjab as a base for its homegrown domestic terrorists. When I heard India bombed training camps in Pakistan this week in Operation Sindoor, in response to a Pakistani terrorist rampage in India’s Kashmir state, I had one city’s name on my lips: Bahawalpur,” she said.
“My friend, WSJ reporter Danny Pearl, went to Bahawalpur in December 2001 with a notebook and a pen. Gen. Pervez Musharraf had just promised he was shutting down Pakistan’s militant groups after a strike by Pakistan’s terrorists against the Parliament in India, and Danny reported on the militant offices in Bahawalpur. He literally knocked on their doors,” Nomani recalled. Asra Nomani further mentioned that the militant training camps were open for business in Bahawalpur.
Bahawalpur is home to the Markaz Subhan Allah, a key Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) facility that has been active since 2015. Serving as the group’s primary hub for training, indoctrination, and operations, it also functions as JeM’s operational headquarters. The centre has been linked to multiple terror plots, including the February 14, 2019, Pulwama attack. It houses the residences of JeM founder Maulana Masood Azhar, de facto leader Mufti Abdul Rauf Asghar, Maulana Ammar, and other members of Azhar’s family.