Following a rare and open admission from top commander Masood Ilyas Kashmiri within Jaish-e-Mohammad that India’s May 7 retaliatory strike had “torn into pieces” the family of JeM chairman Maulana Masood Azhar, Operation Sindoor has now taken an unusual turn.
The target was Markaz Subhanallah, the headquarters of JeM in Bahawalpur, a vast stronghold that was formerly regarded as untouchable under ISI protection and is located along the Karachi–Torkham highway.
For more than 20 years, the building had been the nerve center of JeM, housing up to 600 militants and acting as the organizing headquarters for well-known terror attacks, such as the 2019 Pulwama suicide bombing.
In addition to demolishing long-standing infrastructure, India’s direct attack on Bahawalpur dealt a symbolic blow to Azhar’s inner circle, shattering the organization’s leadership on both an operational and personal level.
The April 22 massacre in Kashmir’s Baisaran Valley, where 26 Indian tourists were massacred by Lashkar-e-Taiba agents in Pahalgam—one of the bloodiest civilian-targeted terror attacks in recent memory—was the catalyst for this escalation.
In retaliation, India launched a military campaign of zero tolerance and carried out well-coordinated precision strikes against nine key terrorist targets in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.
Indian soldiers attacked JeM and LeT forward launch pads in PoJK, Lashkar’s Muridke headquarters in Lahore, and training facilities that have been used for infiltration into India for a long time in addition to Bahawalpur. The goal of each strike was to weaken the command-and-control centers and destroy the operational core of transnational jihadist networks.
Pakistan’s desperate response to the initial wave was Islamabad trying to repel it over several nights with drones and missile salvos. Nevertheless, these attacks were neutralized by India’s multi-layered air defense system, which included Akash and Barak-8 batteries, without causing any harm to infrastructure or civilians.
A decisive second Indian strike package, this time intended to weaken Pakistan’s military air strength, followed the failure of Pakistan’s counterattack.
Both Rahim Yar Khan Airbase in Punjab province and Nur Khan Airbase outside of Rawalpindi were struck by precise weapons, rendering portions of forward-deployed assets inoperable and indicating a deliberate escalation by India that its response would not be restricted to proxy infrastructure alone.
Following the release of films such as Kashmiri’s, which were infrequent admissions demonstrating the depth of Indian penetrative power, Islamabad was forced to scramble diplomatically while also dealing with internal pressure.
At a time when JeM was already trying to raise money through a ₹3.91 billion fundraising campaign cloaked in mosque construction, the revelation that Masood Azhar’s own family members were killed has shocked the jihadist community and probably weakened morale and recruitment efforts.
The Bahawalpur strike has brought Pakistan’s covert terror sponsorship under fresh international attention, in addition to India’s ongoing diplomatic message at fora like the SCO and its expanding counter-terror pacts, most recently with Brazil.
