From Balakot camps to Bahawalpur funerals: Jaish commander's bombshell puts spotlight on Asim Munir’s role in Pakistan’s terror nexus

The recent shocking revelations by Jaish-e-Mohammed commander Masood Ilyas Kashmiri in a viral video have shattered Pakistan’s long-running denials about sheltering and supporting terror groups. In his remarks at the 38th annual Mission Mustafa conference, Kashmiri directly implicated his boss Masood Azhar in planning attacks in Delhi and Mumbai from Pakistani soil. He also claimed that Pakistan Army Chief General Asim Munir ordered generals to attend funerals of slain Jaish terrorists after Indian strikes.

The video and its revelations have unmasked the depth of Pakistan’s military-terror nexus and left Islamabad with little room to continue its narrative of being a victim of terrorism rather than a sponsor.

Masood Azhar enjoys safe haven in Pakistan

Kashmiri confirmed that Masood Azhar, one of India’s most wanted terrorists, continued his operations from Pakistan after his release by India. He said, “After escaping the prison of Tihar Jail in Delhi, Amir-ul-Mujahideen Maulana Masood Azhar comes to Pakistan. The soil of Balakot provides him a base to carry forward his vision, mission, and programme Delhi and Bombay (Mumbai); this is how Maulana Masood Azhar, the Amir-ul-Mujahideen who terrorised the country, appears.”

His admission directly supports India’s long-standing claim that Jaish camps operated freely under the watch of Pakistan’s military and intelligence agencies.

The terror trail

Kashmiri openly credited Pakistan’s Balakot as the staging ground for Azhar’s campaign against India. He even invoked Osama bin Laden as a “martyr” who shaped Jaish’s ideology. In another revelation, earlier reported by Moneycontrol, Kashmiri said the May 7 strike on Jaish’s Bahawalpur headquarters, Jamia Masjid Subhan Allah, inflicted devastating losses, including the deaths of Azhar’s family members who were “torn apart” in the bombing. This ties directly to India’s Operation Sindoor, launched in retaliation for the April 22 Pahalgam attack that killed 26 civilians.

Pakistan Army’s patronage of terrorists

Kashmiri’s most explosive claim is that Pakistan’s military under Field Marshal Asim Munir had dispatched senior officers to attend funerals of terrorists killed in Indian operations. “Generals were sent to funerals” of those killed in India’s Operation Sindoor, Kashmiri alleged.

In May this year, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri, at a press briefing in New Delhi, even unveiled a photograph showing Abdur Rauf, designated by the US as a terrorist, leading prayers at one such funeral. “As far as we are concerned, the individuals eliminated at these facilities were terrorists. Giving terrorists state funerals may be a practice in Pakistan. It doesn’t seem to make much sense to us,” Misri said.

Munir’s nuclear threats and global criticism

Munir himself has drawn global attention for his reckless statements. In an address in Tampa, Florida, he warned that Pakistan would not go down alone in the event of war with India. “We are a nuclear nation. If we think we are going down, we’ll take half the world down with us,” he was quoted as saying. These comments triggered sharp condemnation in Washington. Former Pentagon official Michael Rubin said Pakistan was behaving like “a rogue state” and added, “Asim Munir is Osama bin Laden in a suit.”

US ties and FATF pushback

Despite these warnings, Munir was hosted at the White House for lunch with US President Donald Trump in June, just weeks after India launched Operation Sindoor. US Central Command chief General Michael Kurilla even praised Pakistan as a “phenomenal partner” in counter-terrorism efforts.

Yet Pakistan remains under scrutiny. Although it was removed from the Financial Action Task Force Grey List in 2022, New Delhi has been lobbying for its re-listing. “India will send a dossier to the FATF about including Pakistan in the terror grey list again,” a government official said, according to The Hindu.

Bottom line

Kashmiri’s statements have torn apart Islamabad’s facade of innocence. By naming Masood Azhar’s safe haven in Pakistan and exposing generals at terrorist funerals, the Jaish commander has provided the clearest evidence yet of the Pakistan Army’s direct sponsorship of terrorism. For New Delhi, the revelations strengthen its case at global platforms to isolate Pakistan and push for punitive measures.