Jaish-e-Mohammed reopens swimming pool at bombed Bahawalpur terror centre: Report

Nearly two months after Indian Air Force jets targeted Jaish-e-Mohammed's Bahawalpur headquarters under Operation Sindoor, the terror group has reopened its on-campus swimming pool, signalling a resumption of regular activities. According to The Print, Jaish announced on its social media that swimming classes have resumed at the Jama-e-Masjid Subhan Allah seminary — the same facility that was bombed by India on May 7 in retaliation for the Pahalgam terror attack.

The reopening suggests that around 600 students who attend the seminary are back to normal routines. The pool, however, is not only used for civilian activity. JeM militants have also used it as a training facility while stationed at Bahawalpur before being deployed to operational areas like Kashmir.

The Print shared a picture that showed four key members involved in the 2019 Pulwama attack — Muhammad Umar Farooq, Talha Rasheed Alvi, Muhammad Ismail Alvi, and Rasheed Billa — posing at the pool before heading to India. "Even though reopening a swimming pool might sound like a small thing," an Indian government official was quoted as saying, "it is a big draw for poor children in the Bahawalpur area who form the base from which the Jaish recruits its cadre. It is also a signal that the Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate has no intention of shutting down terror-linked groups, despite the war."

Located on NH-5, the Karachi-Torkham Highway, on the outskirts of Bahawalpur, the 15-acre Markaz Subhan Allah serves as Jaish-e-Mohammed's central hub for terror indoctrination and training. Besides housing the main seminary, the compound also includes residences of top JeM leadership — including Maulana Masood Azhar, who remains under protective custody in Islamabad/Rawalpindi — as well as his brothers, Mufti Abdul Rauf Asghar and Maulana Ammar, and brother-in-law Yusuf Azhar.

JeM conducts regular arms, physical, and religious training at the complex, which has operated since 2015 with funding from Pakistani provincial and federal governments and donations from Gulf and African sources, including the UK. A gymnasium was added in 2018, followed by the construction of the swimming pool for underwater training.

Although Pakistan officially banned the group in 2002 under international pressure following the 2001 Parliament attack in India, JeM has continued to operate from Bahawalpur.

In recent weeks, JeM has resumed public activity, despite the Indian airstrikes. Masood Azhar released audio recordings of his speeches — including one vowing to destroy the Ayodhya Ram Mandir — and claimed the group funded funeral rites for his family members killed in the strike, including his sister, her husband, a nephew and his wife, a niece, and five children.

On June 9, Jaish reportedly instructed its cadre to stop filming their activities, saying it violated religious law. The order came after the group held multiple rallies across Pakistan while keeping a low media profile. 

India's strike on the Markaz on May 7 came after a deadly terror attack in Pahalgam on April 22. The complex was hit by precision missiles, damaging several structures including residential quarters used by JeM's senior leadership.