JeM's Pakistan centres: A breeding ground for fidayeen, Hamas links, stockpiled NATO arms

The banned Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) terror group's two 'Markaz' (centres)—its Bahawalpur headquarters and Narowal in Pakistan's Punjab—functioned as a breeding ground for suicide attackers, had links with Palestine's Hamas and served as a facility for hoarding smuggled NATO arms from Afghanistan, officials said in New Delhi on Thursday.

Both these centres located on the opposite ends of Pakistan's Punjab province were among the nine targets hit by missiles launched by the Indian Air Force (IAF) in the early hours of Wednesday, in a strong retaliation to the Pahalgam terror attack of April 22, in which 25 tourists and a local guide were gunned down by terrorists.

According to officials, the Bahawalpur centre of JeM, spread over 15 acres, is run by de-facto chief Abdul Rauf Asgar and the area houses of JeM founder Masood Azhar and other family members.

Masood Azhar acknowledged after the IAF strikes—codenamed 'Operation Sindoor'—that 10 members of his family and four close associates were killed in India's missile attack on the outfit's headquarters in Bahawalpur.

A statement attributed to Azhar said that those killed in the attack on the Jamia Masjid Subhan Allah in Bahawalpur included the JeM chief's elder sister and her husband, a nephew and his wife, another niece, and five children from his extended family.

The Bahawalpur centre is notorious for hoarding arms and ammunition left behind by the NATO forces in Afghanistan, the officials said.

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They added that Bahawalpur is often frequented by JeM commanders who were fighting in Afghanistan, and that Asgar purchases (as well as smuggles) consignments of weaponry—including M4 series rifles—through a network of criminals based in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, which was earlier known as the North West Frontier Province (NWFP).

Besides the M4 series, the arms and ammunition included sniper rifles, armour-piercing bullets, Night Vision Devices (NVD), and rifles fitted with NVD.

Regarding the centre in Narowal, the officials said that the Markaz has been used for learning tactics from the Palestinian Hamas group. The involvement of Hamas started in 2014, when one of the JeM terrorists, Mohammed Adnan Ali (codenamed 'Doctor') had imparted paraglider training to operatives of another group as well.

The training was given by Jagtar Singh Tara, who was deported to India, and his associates Jaswinder Singh Jassa and Mohammad Umar Gondal.

The tactics for paragliding and the use of tunnels for infiltration seem to be inspired by the modus operandi used by Hamas in the Middle East, the officials said, adding further that there were multiple inputs about regular interactions of JeM terrorists with Hamas leaders.

Then, in February this year, senior Hamas functionaries addressed a rally on 'Kashmir Solidarity Day' in Rawalakot, PoK, that had top Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammad cadres in attendance.

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The rally was addressed by Hamas spokesperson Khalid Qaddoumi, a development that Indian agencies saw as an attempt to link the jihadi campaign in Jammu and Kashmir to the Palestinian fight in Kashmir.

The Bahawalpur and Narowal facilities have produced terrorists responsible for multiple suicide attacks in India, including the 2016 strike at the Pathankot IAF base and the 2020 attack in Nagrota.

Among those indoctrinated for these "fidayeen" (suicide) attacks were close relatives of Masood Azhar, specifically his nephew Tallah Rasheed, as well as Usman, Umar, and Mohammed Ismail, also known as 'Lambu'. 

After being indoctrinated at these facilities, the individuals were reportedly sent to Balakot for arms training.

World