Operation Sindoor: 10 Family Members Killed but Masood Azhar has “Neither Regret nor Despair”
Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, May 7: Jaish-e-Mohammad chief Maulana Masood Azhar has “neither regret nor despair” over 10 of his family members killed in India’s “Operation Sindoor” retaliatory attack on terror addresses across Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir to avenge Pahalgam terror attack killing 26 innocent tourists.
Masood Azhar in a statement has admitted that 10 members of his family and four of his aides were killed in India’s targeted airstrikes. The statement said those killed in the strike on JeM headquarters — Jamia Masjid Subhan Allah in Bahawalpur — included his elder sister, her husband, a nephew and his wife, a niece, and five children from the extended family.
“Ten members of my family were blessed with this happiness together tonight… five are innocent children, my elder sister, her honorable husband. My scholar Fazil bhanje (nephew) and his wife and my beloved scholar Fazilah (bhanji) … my dear brother Huzaifah and his mother. Two more dear companions,” he said and added “those killed have become the guests of Allah.”
The 56-year old Masood Azhar, who was arrested in India in 1994 and released after the Air India IC 814 hijack, said he had “neither regret nor despair.” “Rather, it comes to my heart again and again that I too would have joined this fourteen-member happy caravan,” he added. The terrorist said, “Time for their departure had come, but the Lord did not kill them.” He also invited people to the funeral prayers later in the day.
Listed as an international terrorist by the UN Security Council, Masood Azhar has been involved in the conspiracy behind multiple terror attacks in India, including the 2001 Parliament attack, 2008 Mumbai attacks, 2016 Pathankot attack and 2019 Pulwama attack. While it is an open secret that the terrorist is in Pakistan, Islamabad has repeatedly denied having information about him.
India fired 24 precision missiles at nine locations harbouring terrorists in Pakistan and PoK Pakistan Occupied Kashmir last night. Indian officials have expressed regret for civilian casualties but stressed that all efforts were made to keep them to a minimum. Sources said all targets were carefully vetted and found to be directly linked to terrorist activity.
“The nature of asymmetric warfare, however, often sees terrorist groups embed their facilities in densely populated civilian areas, complicating any effort to avoid non-combatant casualties completely. The collateral damage was notably restrained, especially considering the scale and spread of the operation. This restraint was attributed to India’s use of precision-guided munitions, as well as the selection of targets during late-night hours when civilian presence was minimal,” a government source said.
The Government sources said in contrast to India’s restraint, Pakistan’s narrative had shifted towards inflating civilian impact to gain international sympathy. In the briefing to the press after the attack, defence officials shared visuals, showing clearly that the surgical strikes’ impact was largely restricted to targeted compounds.
While the impact of the “Operation Sindoor” seems to have softened Pakistan government’s stance, the ruling alliance partner Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) resumed its war cry against India. The PPP chief Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, called India’s precision strikes on the terror holdouts “an act of war” and said Pakistan reserve the right to respond to the attacks.
Condemning India’s counter-terror strikes, he called the attacks on structures housing terrorists a “cowardly” act and said the strikes carried out by India were “an unprovoked, deliberate act of war.” Mr Bhutto’s mother Benazir Bhutto, a former Pakistan Prime Minister, was herself killed in a terrorist attack, while his grand-father Zulfiquar Ali Bhutto, also a former Pakistan prime minister was hanged to death by the Pakistani government on corruption charges.
