Operation Sindoor: How India dealt crushing blow to Jaish-e-Muhammad, Lashkar-e-Taiba

Maulana Masood Azhar, Jaish-e-Muhammad chief. (File Image: AP)

In actions defying Pakistan's anticipation of India's retaliation to the Pahalgam terror attack, Indian armed forces launched a joint operation striking at the heart of terrorism emanating from our neighbouring country.

Codenamed 'Operation Sindoor', India launched precision strikes targeting terror infrastructure at sites located in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir as well as those deep within Pakistan. Of the nine sites that were targeted in a highly coordinated attack by Indian armed forces, four are located well within Pakistan, signaling a decisive shift in India's evolving response to state-sponsored terrorism.

“Over the last three decades, Pakistan has systematically built terror infrastructure. It is a complex web of recruitment and indoctrination centres, training areas for initial and refresher courses and launch pads for handlers. These camps are located both in Pakistan as well as Pakistan occupied Jammu and Kashmir areas," Colonel Sophiya Qureshi of the Indian Army said in a detailed press briefing following India's attack on Pakistan-based terror infrastructure.

One of the key sites targeted in India's strikes was 'Markaz Subhan Allah' in Bahawalpur area of Pakistan's Punjab province. The Markaz Subhan Allah serves as the operational headquarters of Jaish-e-Muhammad, the terror outfit associated with terrorist plannings, including the Pulwama attack on February 14, 2019.

Intelligence inputs revealed that the Markaz consists of residences of JeM chief Maulana Masood Azhar, de-facto Chief of JeM Mufti Abdul Rauf Asghar, Maulana Ammar and other family members of

Masood Azhar. The JeM chief has made several addresses from this facility extolling anti–India rhetoric and appealing to youth to join Islamic jihad. JeM also conducts regular arms, physical and religious training for its cadres at Markaz Subhan Allah.

Following India's strike at the JeM headquarters in Bahawalpur, a statement issued on behalf of Masood Azhar acknowledged the death of 14 of his family members, according to Pakistan-based media outlets. A UN-designated global terrorist, Masood Azhar is the founder of the JeM, the outfit behind several terrorist attacks against India, including the 2001 Parliament attack in Delhi, the 2016 Pathankot airbase attack, 2019 Pulwama attack in which 40 CRPF jawans were killed.

The second critical site targeted in Operation Sindoor is Markaz Taiba in Muridke, the hub of Lashkar-e-Taiba located 40 km from Lahore in Pakistan. Established in the year 2000, Markaz Taiba is the ‘alma mater’ and the most important training centre of LeT located in the Punjab province. The complex holds arms and physical trainings facility as well as radicalisation for terror entities both from within Pakistan and abroad.

As per intelligence inputs, the Markaz in Muridke served as the mushrooming ground for radicalisation of students to motivate them to join armed jihad. Intelligence sources said that slain Al Qaeda chief Osama Bin Laden financed Rs 10 million for the construction of a mosque and guest house within the Markaz Taiba complex.

The strategic importance of the site can be gauged from the fact that all preparators of the 26/11 Mumbai attack, including Ajmal Kasab, were imparted ‘Daura-e-Ribbat’ (intelligence training) at this facility. David Coleman Headley and Tahawwur Hussain Rana, the prime conspirators of the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, had visited Muridke along with Abdul Rehman Sayed alias Pasha, Haroon and Khurram (co-conspirators) on the instructions of Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi.

Terror outfits had long flourished with the immunity and support -- financial and logistical -- provided by the Pakistan government assuming that they remained safe from India's retaliatory measures, deep inside the international boundary. While India's operation in Balakot in 2019 changed that perception, Operation Sindoor has made it clear that terror perpetrators have nowhere to run while dealing a severe blow to its infrastructure.

India's strikes included four sites associated with the Jaosh-e-Muhammad (Markaz Subhan Allah in Bahawalpur, Sarjal at Tehra Kalan, Markaz Abbas in Kotli, and Syedna Bilal camp in Muzaffarabad); three locations linked to the Lashkar-e-Taiba (Markaz Taiba in Murdike,Markaz Ahle Hadith in Barnala and Shwawai Nalla camp in Muzaffarabad) and two locations linked to Hizbul Mujahideen (Makaz Raheel Shahid in Kotli and Mehmoona Joya in Sialkot).