Islamabad: With the fear of the “unknown gunmen” looming, terrorists Hafiz Saeed and Masood Azhar, wanted in India for several attacks in India, have been quietly moved to new hideouts by Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) over the past week, intelligence sources have said.
The two are now apparently lodged in heavily guarded safe houses run by the ISI.
While Saeed, chief of the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), has been shifted from Johar Town in Lahore to the Garrison Ground area in Rawalpindi, close to Pakistan Army headquarters, Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) head Azhar has been placed in a safe house in Nawabshah, in the Sindh province.
According to sources, the move is driven by fear. After Operation Sindoor destroyed key terror infrastructure, the Pakistani agency now fears fresh Indian strikes and the “unknown gunmen” who have killed several terrorists in Pakistan in recent months.
Saeed has stopped meeting Lashkar members in person and now speaks to them only through audio messages. His security has been tightened, and his movements are tightly restricted, as reported by NDTV.
Saeed is a UN-designated terrorist and Pakistan has been claiming that he is serving a sentence in terror-funding cases at Kot Lakhpat jail in Lahore. However, it is a known fact that this is a sham. He is known to be living comfortably in a safe house.
Azhar, also a UN-designated terrorist, is said to be avoiding direct contact with his members as well. He is in touch only with a select group, which includes some top commanders.
Operation Sindoor started by dealing a heavy blow to the JeM. Its headquarters, the Markaz in Bahawalpur, suffered massive damage during the strikes on May 7, 2025. The outfit has been struggling to regroup since.
Saeed is wanted in India for the 26/11 Mumbai attacks and several other strikes. Azhar is the mastermind behind the Pulwama, Pathankot and Parliament attacks.
