Lahore: Among the nine locations targeted by Indian missile strikes during Operation Sindoor was the headquarters of Maulana Masood Azhar-led Jaish-e-Mohammad, located in Bahawalpur in Pakistan’s Punjab province.
In a statement circulated through his Telegram channel, Masood Azhar acknowledged that 14 people, including 10 members of his family and four close associates, were killed as a result of India’s missile attack in the early hours of May 7.
Those killed in the attack on Jamia Masjid Subhan Allah in Bahawalpur were the JeM chief’s elder sister and her husband, a nephew and his wife, another niece, five children from his extended family, one of Azhar’s close associate and his mother, along with two other close companions.
“10 members of my family got this good fortune together tonight. Five innocent children became the flowers of Jannatul Firdaus. My elder sister Sahiba, dearer than my life, her husband… My nephew Alim Fazil and his wife and my beloved niece Alam Fazila… Our nephew and his wife have become dear to Allah,” Azhar said in a statement.
Expressing “unbearable” grief, Azhar wished he was also included among those who lost their lives.
“(Narendra) Modi targeted innocent children, veiled women and elderly people. The grief and shock is so great that it is unbearable. But there is no regret, no disappointment and no fear… It comes to my mind again and again that I too should have been included in these 14 people, but the time of meeting Allah is very fixed, it cannot be earlier or later,” Azhar stated.
“There were a total of four children in our house, aged between 7 years to 3 years. All four of them went to heaven together. Quran says that martyrdom is given to those whom Allah loves. This was the time fixed for them to go, but God has given them life and not death,” Azhar expressed.
He concluded with a dare to the Indian Prime Minister.
“Now this tyranny of Modi has broken all the ways, now no one should expect leniency there,” Azhar said.
India’s armed forces destroyed several terror camps across 9 sites in Pakistan and Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir to avenge the deadly massacre in Pahalgam’s Baisaran valley on April 22, when 26 men, mostly tourists, were shot dead in front of their family members.
