Operation Sindoor: Why Indian forces targeted JeM stronghold Bahawalpur in post-midnight strikes that shook Pakistan?

As the nation was asleep, the Indian armed forces launched "focused and precise" missile strikes on 9 terror sites across Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK). Codenamed Operation Sindoor, the forces targeted the terror infrastructure linked to three major outfits -- Maulana Masood Azhar's Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), Hafiz Saeed's Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), and Syed Salahuddin's Hizbul Mujahideen (HM).

Among these terror camps that have been reduced to rubble, one of the most significant targets was Bahawalpur, the headquarters of JeM and is situated around 400 km from Lahore. It houses the group's operational nerve centre at the Jamia Masjid Subhan Allah. Located around 100 km from the international border, Bahawalpur is the 12th largest city of Pakistan.

Among the sites targeted by India was the Jamia Masjid, said to be spread across ~18 acres and serving as JeM's hub for recruitment, fundraising and indoctrination. The site was directly linked to the Pulwama attack on February 14, 2019, and houses senior JeM leadership including Maulana Masood Azhar, Mufti Abdul Rauf Asghar, and Maulana Ammar.

The mosque was funded through the Al-Rahmat Trust, one of the JeM's frontal organisations. Though presented as a religious seminary in the public domain, the complex was quietly turned into a large complex with training facilities by 2012.

As per satellite imagery accessed by India Today, the complex has a grand central mosque and a madrassa for more than 600 students. It also houses a swimming pool, stables for horses, and a gymnasium. Taking down of the location is also critical because of its location.

The campus is located just a few miles away from Pakistan's 31 Corps military cantonment, which, reports suggest, is clear evidence of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI's) support for the group.

Not only has the terror camp in Bahawalpur been reduced to dust, but ten family members and close associates of Maulana Masood Azhar were among those killed in the precision airstrikes carried out by the Indian Armed Forces in the wee hours of Wednesday.

In December 1999, 5 terrorists associated with the Harkat-ul-Mujahideen hijacked the IC-814 flight carrying 190 passengers and crew from Kathmandu to Delhi. The plane was diverted to Amritsar, Lahore, Dubai, and finally to Afghanistan's Kandahar under Taliban control.

In exchange for the hostages, India complied with the terrorists' demand to release the 3 terrorists -- Masood Azhar, Omar Sheikh, and Mushtaq Zargar. Besides this, the Jaish-e-Mohammed is behind several attacks against India, such as the J&K assembly bombing (2001), the Parliament attack (2001), the Pathankot air base attack (2016), the Uri terror attack (2016), and the Pulwama attack (2019).