JeM Founder Masood Azhar Gave Instructions For Pulwama Attack From Army Base Hospital In Pakistan

While the top commander of terrorist organisation Jaish-e-Mohammed, Ghazi Abdul Rasheed might be the brain behind the Pulwama terror attack, it was ultimately JeM founder Masood Azhar who gave the final nod to the dastardly attack.

Masood Azhar was released from India in 1999 in exchange of surviving passengers aboard Air India flight 814 which was hijacked on December 24. Masood Azhar also happens to be the mastermind behind the Pathankot Air Force Base attack which took place in 2016.

Times of India reported that he gave clear cut instructions to his outfit members regarding the suicide bombing on CRPF convoy by a 19-year-old terrorist Adil Ahmed Dar. Astonishingly, Azhar gave orders from the Army base hospital in Rawalpindi, Pakistan where he is being given treatment for a terminal illness.

Photo: BCCL

He is being treated for the last four months. Azhar even sent an audio recording in a frail voice to the terror outfit members, around eight days before at least 44 CRPF soldiers were martyred. Due to his illness, he has largely remained absent from six key meetings of the United Jihad Council (UJC), an umbrella organisation formed for unified and controlled command over anti-Indian militant groups operating in Jammu and Kashmir.

"There is nothing more pleasurable than death in this war. "Koi inhe dashatganj kahega, koi inhe nikamma kahega, koi inhe pagal kahega, koi inhe aman ke liye khatra kaha ....(Some people will call these terrorists savages, insane or danger to peace but let them go and disrupt...across the border)" he can be heard saying in the recording, TOI reported.

Photo: AFP

Azhar who is on India¡¯s list of most wanted terrorists asks the militants to avenge the death of his nephew Usman who was killed by security forces in 2018. Though he hasn¡¯t shared his plans regarding latest attacks with the UJC, he has asked another nephew Mohammad Umair and Ghazi Abdul Rasheed for using the audio tape to brainwash youth in Indian Valley.

Reportedly, he made references to how he was waiting for men to wage a war against India. A top intelligence official in Kashmir told TOI that as many as 60 Jaish terrorists were operating in Kashmir out of which 35 were from Pakistan while the rest were civilians.

In his absence, the meetings were presided over by Hizbul Mujahideen commander Syed Salahuddin in which new terror launchpads for infiltrating the border were discussed. In another meeting, IED based terror attacks were discussed in Pakistan-Occupied-Kashmir¡¯s townhall meeting.

The Pulwama attack marked the return of suicide bombings in the Kashmir valley which were specifically used by JeM terrorists in early 2000s.