At a time when the security establishment’s focus has been mainly on the lashkar-e-Toiba (leT) and its chief Hafeez Sayeed, it’s the Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), headed by Maulana Masood Azhar, which has sought to up the ante by carrying out two daring attacks in a matter of a little over a month —first in Tangdhar (November 26) and the second in Pathankot on Saturday. It is yet to take its responsibility though.
The attacks are seen as JeM’s bid to reassert its influence and lethality. The terrorists, who struck the Pathankot airbase in the wee hours of Saturday were tasked to destroy valuable assets parked there to provoke strong Indian retaliation ahead of the initiation of stalled dialogue process between the two neighboring countries.
The group of heavily armed terrorists are said to have sneaked inside the Indian territory from JeM’s stronghold Bahawalpur in Pakistan. Calls traced by Indian intelligence agencies have also clearly established the link between Bahawalpur, home town of Masood Azhar, and the group of terrorists.
While the Mumbai terror attack mastermind Sayeed has continued to hit out at India publicly, Azhar, who was released following the Kandahar hijacking of the Indian Airlines plane IC-814 in December 1999, had been lying low for a long time.
Masood Azhar’s outfit had allegedly carried out a string of deadly fidayeen attacks on Indian army installations before mounting an audacious strike on the Indian Parliament in December 2001 that brought India and Pakistan to the brink of a full-scale war.
Soon after the Indian parliament attack, Masood Azhar was detained for a year by Pakistani authorities in connection but was never formally charged. Pak court ended his house arrest on 14 December 2002, much to the chagrin of India
According to media reports published in Pakistan, Azhar reportedly ended his hibernation in February 2014 when he stepped out to address public rallies in Muzaffarabad during the launch of book on Parliament attack convict Mohd Afzal Guru.
Since then he is frequently holding meetings with his cadre and coercing youth to join the ranks of militant outfit.
His suspected movements were also recorded on the radar of the Indian intelligence agencies in the recent months warning against possible strikes.
Meanwhile, hours after the attack took place, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh also did not rule out the JeM’s role in the latest attack even as security forces are said to have found evidence of the outfit’s role with pieces of paper found from the SP’s SUV.
“Pakistan is our neighbouring country. We want good relations with not just Pakistan but with all our neighbours. We also want peace but if there is any terror attack on India, we will give a befitting reply. We will hit hard,” he said.
Asked about the possibility of JeM’s involvement in the attack, Singh said such a possibility cannot be ruled out. “The case will be probed by the NIA but the possibility of JeM being behind the attack cannot be ruled out,” he said. The Home Minister said there were intelligence inputs about possible terror attacks in Punjab and steps were taken which helped avert higher casualties.
“There were some inputs and hence there was caution. We have exercised caution. If we had not taken steps, there could have been bigger damage,” he said.
The Home Minister said the operation was still on by the army and other forces to detect if any more militants were hiding. “Operation is still on. Unless it is completed, we can’t say what are the total casualties. But I think our forces are achieving success,” he said. Singh said he was happy that the security forces — army jawans, paramilitary jawans and jawans of the Punjab police — were giving a befitting reply. “The country is proud of our security forces and our jawans,” he said.
His deputy in the Home Ministry Kiren Rijiju said, “We have credible information that this attack was sponsored by some elements across the border. Rijiju said central security agencies were working in close coordination with Punjab Police in the entire operation to eliminate the terrorists, who attacked an Indian Air Force base.