Bahawalpur is said to be Masood Azhar’s key base, a top wanted terrorist in India and founder of the Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM).
Azhar has been accused in several terror cases, from the 2001 Parliament attack to the 2019 Pulwama bombing when a JeM suicide bomber had killed 40 CRPF personnel.
It is reported that Masood Azhar has two houses in Bahawalpur. One is next to the Osman-O-Ali Masjid, and the other nearly four kilometres away, near the Jamia Mosque. The second house is very close to important government buildings—the Bahawalpur bench of the Lahore High Court is a kilometre away, and the District Collector’s office is just three kilometres from the house.
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Bahawalpur is also thought to contain a minimum of four JeM training centres, making it even more important as a terror hub. Moreover, a group training camp was reportedly running about 10 kilometres from the Pakistan Army headquarters and a nearby airbase within the city.
Who Is Masood Azhar?
Masood Azhar became famous when he was let out by Indian officials in 1999, along with two other militants, in return for hostages being held on Indian Airlines Flight IC-814 hijacked at Kandahar.
After his release, he again returned to Pakistan and formed the Jaish-e-Mohammed terror group. He is currently wanted for various high-profile attacks, such as the 2001 Indian Parliament attack, Pathankot airbase attack, and Pulwama suicide attack.
