• Source:JND
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A senior commander of the Pakistan-based terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) has revealed Masood Azhar's direct role in planning attacks against India, challenging Pakistan’s repeated claims of not sheltering terrorists. In a recently surfaced video, Masood Ilyas Kashmiri, a top UN-listed operative, admitted that Azhar orchestrated terror operations from Pakistan following his release from Indian custody.

Kashmiri stated that after spending five years in Tihar Jail, Delhi, Masood Azhar escaped and relocated to Pakistan, establishing a base in Balakot. “After escaping the prison of Tihar Jail in Delhi, Amir-ul-Mujahideen Maulana Masood Azhar comes to Pakistan. The soil of Balakot provides him a base to carry forward his vision, mission, and programme Delhi and Bombay, this is how Maulana Masood Azhar, the Amir-ul-Mujahideen who terrorised the country, appears,” Kashmiri said, according to India Today.

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Balakot: The Operational Hub

The commander identified Balakot as the operational hub from which Azhar plotted attacks in Delhi and Mumbai. In the footage, Kashmiri also glorified Osama bin Laden as a “martyr” whose ideology influenced their militant campaign. These revelations lend weight to India’s longstanding position that JeM operates training and operational bases under the protection of Pakistan’s military-security apparatus, despite Islamabad’s public insistence that there are “no terrorist hideouts” within its borders.

Operation Sindoor And Bahawalpur Strike

Earlier, Kashmiri had revealed details about the May 7 Indian airstrikes on Jaish’s Bahawalpur headquarters, Jamia Masjid Subhan Allah, as part of Operation Sindoor. He claimed the strikes inflicted heavy losses on the group, with several of Azhar’s family members among those killed. “Family members of Masood Azhar were torn apart in the bombing,” Kashmiri admitted.

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Operation Sindoor targeted multiple terror launchpads across Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, in retaliation for the April 22 Pahalgam attack that claimed 26 civilian lives. Kashmiri’s admission underscores the strategic importance of Balakot and other Pakistani territories in JeM’s operations and highlights the close ties between the terror organisation and elements of Pakistan’s security establishment.