How Bharat should view Jaish-e-Mohammad chief Masood Azhar’s public lecture in Pakistan

Jaish-e-Mohammad chief, Masood Azhar responsible for several terror attacks in Bharat made a public appearance after 21 years in Pakistan. During this appearance, he delivered a lecture to a massive gathering in Bahawalpur.

This once again shows the complicity of Pakistan in handling Azhar who has brought Bharat and Pakistan on the brink of a war on two occasions-Parliament attack (2001) and Pulwama attack (2019).

The lecture according to the Intelligence agencies was delivered at the Umm-ul-Qura seminary located in a Mosque compound in Bahawalpur, Pakistan.

What Azhar said

His lecture which was the usual venom spitting against Bharat was interrupted on multiple occasions with slogans such as Nara-e-Taqbeer. During his speech, he vowed war against Bharat and urged the people to join his Jaish-e-Mohammad.

Azhar went on to insist on the restoration of both the Islamic as well as the Ottoman Caliphate which was destroyed in 1924. This suggests that his sudden public appearance was planned to coincide with the 100th anniversary of the destruction of the Ottoman Caliphate.

He went on to criticise Bharat and likened Prime Minister Narendra Modi to a weakling who challenges them. He referred to Israel’s Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu as a mouse and said that it is shameful that people like him dance on their graves.

Just to refresh, it was under PM Modi that the Jaish-e-Mohammad’s biggest training facility in Balakot was hit by the Indian Air Force in retaliation to the Pulwama attack. Netanyahu on the other hand has waged a full fledged war against the terrorist group Hamas.

He also invited the audience to join his outfit and said that he would facilitate their march to Kashmir with the most powerful guns. This should send shivers to the television anchors in Bharat he said.

Pakistan caught lying again

Pakistan has been in denial when it comes to Azhar. It had refused to acknowledge that he was on their soil. In recent years there have been several audio recordings of Azhar. However a proper analysis of these recording by the agencies suggested that they were not new.

Further, the Intelligence had picked up a credible input that suggested that following the Balakot airstrike, Azhar was moved to a hospital in Rawalpindi and kept under the close watch of the ISI.

While most of these analysis were based on Intelligence inputs, the surfacing of Azhar in public has left Islamabad with very little face. It becomes clear that the denial all these years was to get out of the grey list of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).

Islamabad cannot even deny that the event did not have its blessings. Such an event and that too involving one of the world’s most dangerous terrorists on Pakistan soil would have had the tacit support of the ISI and Pakistan army.

The sudden resurfacing explained

Dr. Abhinav Pandya, the author of the book, ‘Inside the Terrifying World of Jaish-e-Mohammad’ tells Organiser that this appearance coincides with the outfit sprucing up activities in Jammu and Kashmir. Following the return of the Taliban in Afghanistan post the hasty US pull out in 2021, cadres of the Jaish-e-Mohammad infiltrated in J&K with American night vision devices and M4 assault rifles.

Investigations in J&K revealed that the outfit had managed to get this equipment from Afghanistan and they belonged to the US army. Pandya who is also a policy analyst says that the recent speech by Azhar becomes crucial also in the wake of the ongoing infiltration of highly trained cadres in Kashmir.

Azhar’s appearance also suggests that the Jaish-e-Mohammad wants to exploit the polarisation and radicalisation of the Indian Muslim youth. While this is taking place in large numbers in Bharat, the outfit sees it as a golden opportunity to recruit local terrorists into its fold.

The fact that Azhar mentions Babri Masjid in his speech also suggests that he would like to recruit radicalised Muslim youth not just for Kashmir, but across the country. He is also trying to further align with the Deobandi network which is wide-spread in Bharat.

Will Jaish-e-Mohammad work alone

The Jaish-e-Mohammad is known for attacks in J&K. The major attack that was carried out was the Parliament attack. However it was done before the outfit was formed, although the players remained the same.

This also brings up the question whether the outfit is capable of operating across the country. Experts say that it may be hard for the outfit to do so. Hence it is more likely to provide a supporting arm to terror groups such as the Islamic State and Al Qaeda who have a much deeper network in Bharat. Azhar’s outfit could play the facilitator to both these outfits.

The effects of Azhar’s speech are yet to be analysed by the agencies. However it may have motivated the terrorists of his outfit further. In recent times there have been reports of him being unwell or even dead. He has managed to put to rest all those rumours and this would be enough for his terrorists to launch attacks with more vigour.