Guwahati: A senior Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) commander has directly implicated outfit chief Masood Azhar in planning and executing terror attacks in Delhi and Mumbai, dealing a major blow to Pakistan’s repeated denials of sheltering terror groups.
Masood Ilyas Kashmiri, a top Jaish operative, admitted in a video that Azhar orchestrated attacks from his base in Pakistan after being released from Tihar Jail in 1999. He revealed that Balakot, which was targeted by Indian airstrikes in 2019, served as the staging ground for Azhar’s terror operations.
“After escaping Tihar Jail, 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 (Mumbai),” Kashmiri said.
Kashmiri’s statement corroborates India’s long-standing claim that Jaish camps operated openly in Pakistan under the patronage of its military-security establishment, despite Islamabad’s global assertions of “no terror hideouts” within its borders.
He further revealed that Indian strikes on May 7 under Operation Sindoor caused devastating damage to Jaish’s Bahawalpur headquarters, Jamia Masjid Subhan Allah, killing several of Azhar’s family members. The strikes came in retaliation for the April 22 Pahalgam attack that left 26 civilians dead.
In another damning disclosure, Kashmiri claimed that Pakistan Army generals were directed from Rawalpindi to attend funerals of slain JeM terrorists in Bahawalpur. The revelation reinforces New Delhi’s consistent stance that Pakistan’s military-intelligence network fuels and sustains terrorism against India.
“There is a uniform behind this terrorism,” an Indian security source said, stressing that Kashmiri’s confession provides undeniable validation of India’s evidence against Pakistan’s terror sponsorship.