A recently surfaced video has revealed explosive confessions from Masood Ilyas Kashmiri, a senior commander of Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM). Speaking at the ‘Mission Mustafa Conference’ in Punjab province, Pakistan, on September 6, Kashmiri openly admitted that JeM chief Masood Azhar orchestrated some of the deadliest terror attacks on Indian soil, including the 2001 Parliament attack and the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, while operating from Balakot.
The video, now viral on social media, is one of the clearest acknowledgements from within the banned terror outfit itself about Azhar’s role in directing cross-border terrorism against India.
In the footage, Kashmiri recounts how Azhar, after his release from Delhi’s Tihar Jail in 1999, found safe haven in Balakot, Pakistan. “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 Mumbai,” Kashmiri can be heard saying.
Azhar is hailed as “Amir-ul-Mujahideen” in the speech, showing his stature within the outfit. Kashmiri also praised Osama bin Laden, describing him as a martyr and an ideological inspiration for JeM’s continued terror campaigns.
In another segment of the video, Kashmiri reacts angrily to India’s May 7, 2025, missile strikes on JeM’s headquarters in Bahawalpur under Operation Sindoor. He confirms that members of Masood Azhar’s own family were killed in the strike, which was launched in retaliation for the massacre of 26 civilians in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pahalgam on April 22.
This acknowledgement not only validates India’s claims about JeM’s strongholds inside Pakistan but also exposes the extent of Pakistan’s protection of global terror operators.
Masood Azhar, one of India’s most wanted terrorists, was freed during the 1999 IC-814 hijacking. Since then, he has been directly linked to several high-profile attacks, including the 2001 Parliament assault, the 2008 Mumbai carnage that killed 166 people, and the 2016 Pathankot airbase strike. India had earlier carried out airstrikes in Balakot in 2019 following the Pulwama terror attack, but Pakistan denied the existence of any terror camps in the region. Kashmiri’s admission now directly undermines those repeated claims of innocence.
The revelations are expected to intensify international scrutiny on Pakistan’s continued sheltering of terror groups.
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