Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) chief Maulana Masood Azhar, the mastermind behind the latest attack at Uri in Jammu & Kashmir and the Pathankot strike earlier this year, on Wednesday released a 30-minute audio clip lampooning India saying New Delhi will attack Pakistan through films.
Counter-terrorism expert Dr Rituraj Mate said, “Azhar is scared of the impending action against the outfit. His speech also suggests he is not confident of the Pakistan Army and the Government in protecting him against the backdrop of the mounting pressure on Islamabad to act against the terrorist groups.”
The message apparently directed to the dwindling morale of JeM cadres also suggests Azhar is scared and worried about his safety in the wake of the impending retaliatory action from India, said security experts.
“Hindustan will attack India through films. Many of the actors of the films are asthma patients and others have severe gastric problems. Hindustan will teach Pakistan through such heroes who act after taking medicines,” the notorious terrorist said in his clip released online.
Seeking to boost the morale of the cadres, Azhar further said nothing will happen against them this time around also. He said similar tactics were applied by India after the Pathankot attacks carried out by four fidayeens from the outfit. While India did not get any evidence or the custody of the attackers, the JeM got more recruits and sympathisers and tanzeems were further strengthened.
Questioning the seriousness of the Indian leadership and the bureaucratic set up here, the designated terrorist on the UN sanctions list asked its cadres not to trust the babus or the leaders as they only spread lies. “Indian leaders and officials lie a lot. They boast only after boozing. Neither the leadership nor the armed forces have the capacity to attack Pakistan,” he said.
“Such lies have raised the expectations of the people leading to calls for action against Pakistan. But the leadership and the Armed forces in India lack the resolve and do not remain alert. The Armed forces fail to guard their assets and suffer losses at the hands of three or four fidayeens and then they conduct investigation and seek cooperation from Pakistan. The matter remains pending for many years in courts and India does not get anything despite ‘propaganda’ by New Delhi and the tanzeems are further strengthened,” he claimed.
According to assessments in India, the domestic perspective of Pakistan is that their Army Chief Raheel Sharif is retiring in November and he is seeking to raise things to a level where he captures power from the political leadership led by PM Nawaz Sharif by projecting that things have come to such a state that only the Army can rescue the country.
Azhar’s exhortations might have come at the behest of the Pak Army chief who could be seeking to rally the public behind him, said security analysts.
Azhar has also revealed that the Pakistani tactic of giving assurance to India in anti-terror cooperation is designed to buy time and allow the terror tanzeems to strengthen over the long term.
Cornered by India at international fora, the Pakistan Army and ISI may soon start a propaganda that Nawaz is cornered by the Armed forces and the Intelligence agencies there. This will lead to a call from the global community asking India to talk to the Pak political leadership in the interest of democracy and the whole pressure against the terror sponsoring country will once again fizzle out, said an Intelligence source, adding India needs to deal with any of the agencies of Pak with the same yardstick and should not fall into this trap any more.
In his audio speech, Azhar has also sought to target “those in Pakistan supporting India” implying that JeM’s affiliate Sipah-e-Sahaba might start targeting Christians, Balochs and other minorities like the Hindus.
Through his speech, the wanted terrorist also sought to target the Muslim population, especially in the Western States like Gujarat, Maharashtra and Rajasthan, seeking their cooperation in sheltering the cadres of the outfit.
Mate said India should not get carried away by the situation unfolding there and should take decisions based on its national interest and apply the same yardstick in dealing with that country if any of the state or non-state actors targets Indian soil.