Says Pak army Generals were sent to funerals
*Confesses Jaish fought in Kabul, Kandahar too
Sanjeev Pargal
JAMMU, Sept 16: In a significant confession of the successes achieved by the Indian Armed Forces during Operation Sindoor, a top Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) commander has admitted that several family members of Jaish chief Maulana Masood Azhar were killed in the Indian strikes at Bhawalpur in mainland Pakistan.
Masood Ilyas Kashmiri, a top commander of Jaish, confessed the killings of Azhar’s family members while delivering a speech somewhere in Pakistan. The video, which is now widely being circulated, shows Kashmiri delivering speech in the presence of gun-wielding terrorists behind. Some other commanders of the JeM outfit are also seen standing.
“We embraced terrorism and fought in Delhi, Kabul and Kandahar to protect country (Pakistan’s) borders. After giving everything, Indian Armed Forces struck at Bhawalpur on May 7, tearing apart the family of Maulana Masood Azhar,’’ Kashmiri is heard saying in the video clip.
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Kashmiri is reported to have delivered the speech in Urdu at the Mission Mustafa Conference in Pakistan’s Punjab province recently.
Indian Armed Forces targeted Jaish headquarters Markaz Subanallah at Bhawalpur deep inside Pakistan and destroyed it on May 7 killing several top terrorists including their commanders besides family of Azhar which had been putting up there presuming it as “safer place’’.
Kashmiri also spoke about terrorist groups having support of the Pakistan army and its chief Asim Munir saying the Army sent Generals to funerals of those killed in the Indian strikes.
Video clips were aired during and after Operation Sindoor showing Pakistan military and civil officials attending funerals of designated terrorists in Pakistan including Bhawalpur, the headquarters of JeM and Muridke, the headquarters of Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT).
Following Indian raids, Pakistan media quoted Masood Azhar as acknowledging that 10 of his family members were killed in Bhawalpur including his elder sister, her husband, a nephew, his wife, a niece and five children besides four close associates, all of whom were top commanders of Jaish-e-Mohammed outfit.
Funeral of all of them was also attended by the Pakistan army officials.
The Indian Armed Forces carried out strikes deep inside Pakistan and PoJK from May 6-10 targeting terror camps and military establishments killing hundreds of terrorists of LeT, JeM and other outfits including top commanders. The strikes were carried out in the aftermath of April 22 Pahalgam terror attack in which 26 civilians including 25 tourists and a local were killed.
Bahawalpur became the hub of the JeM after the release of Azhar in exchange for the hijacked passengers of IC-814 in 1999.
In May 2019, the United Nations designated Azhar a “global terrorist” after China lifted its hold on a proposal to blacklist the JeM chief, a decade after New Delhi approached the world body for the first time on the issue.
The elusive Azhar, who has not been seen in public since April 2019, is believed to be hiding in a “safe place” in Bahawalpur.
The group has been involved in a series of terror attacks in India, including the Parliament attack in 2001, the strike on the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly in 2000, the attack on the IAF base in Pathankot in 2016 and the Pulwama suicide bombing in 2019.
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