Quick Take
Summary is AI generated, newsroom reviewed.
India’s aerial strike in Bahawalpur killed 10 family members of Masood Azhar
Bahawalpur was among the nine terror targets India struck last night
Azhar is designated as an international terrorist by the UN Security Council
India’s overnight strike in Pakistan’s Bahawalpur killed 10 members of Jaish-e-Mohammad chief Maulana Masood Azhar’s family, news agency PTI has reported. Four of his aides were also killed in the strike, he claimed in a statement after India struck terror camps across the Line of Control and the border.
The Jamia Masjid Subhan Allah in Bahawalpur was among the nine terror targets India struck last night. Other targets included at least three places in Pakistan and five more in POK.
Those who died in the Bahawalpur strike included Azhar’s elder sister, her husband, a nephew, his wife, a niece, and five children from the extended family, said a statement attributed to the water terrorist.
Azhar said he has no regrets or despair over the deaths. Rather, the statement said, he wished to have died alongside his family members.
Who is Masood Azhar?
Masood Azhar, 56, is the founder of Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad terror group, which has carried out several terror attacks in India, including the 2016 Pathankot airbase attacks and the 2019 Pulwama attack. He has also been involved in the 2001 Parliament attack and the 2008 Mumbai attacks.
In 2016, he had orchestrated an attack on the Indian consulate in Afghanistan’s Mazar-e-Sharif.
Azhar is also designated as an international terrorist by the UN Security Council.
The wanted terrorist was once in the custody of Indian agencies, but he was released after the Air India IC814 hijack. The plane was hijacked by five armed terrorists in December 1999 while flying to Delhi from Kathmandu, and diverted to Kandahar in Afghanistan via Amritsar, Lahore, and Dubai. India had to release Azhar and two other terrorists in exchange for the hostages.
Islamabad has repeatedly denied Azhar’s presence despite it being an open secret that he is in Pakistan. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif was asked at a summit in Uzbekistan in 2022 if he would take action against the UN-designated terrorist. He did not answer.
The same year, when India and the US tried to place sanctions on Azhar’s brother Abdul Rauf Asghar, the second-in-command in the JeM, China had placed a technical hold, saying it needed time to study the move.
Last November, Azhar had given a public speech at an Islamic seminary in Pakistan’s Punjab province, in which he had reportedly vowed to continue attacks on India. In his speech, he had also declared that JeM would step up attacks in Jammu and Kashmir.
In December, India had demanded that Pakistan act against Azhar and JeM, stating that if the terrorist’s speech was true, it “exposed Pakistan’s duplicity” in acting against terrorists operating from Pakistan’s soil.
Last year, social media posts – apparently by Pakistani users – declaring Azhar’s death in a bomb blast had gone viral, but the claims were later found to be false.
