Jaish-e-Mohammed
On May 15, 2025, three JeM terrorists, identified as Asif Ahmed Sheikh, Amir Nazir Wani, and Yawar Ahmed Bhat, were killed in an encounter with SFs in the Nader Tral area of Awantipora in the Pulwama District of J&K. SFs recovered three AK-series rifles, twelve magazines, three grenades, and various other war-like stores from the site.
On April 11, 2025, three terrorists, including a JeM ‘commander’, were killed in an encounter with SFs at Naidgam Forest in the Chatroo area in Kishtwar District. The killed terrorists were identified as JeM ‘commander' Saifullah, Farman, and Basha. Each carried a reward of INR 500,000 on his head. SFs recovered a large cache of arms and ammunition, including one M4 rifle, two AK-47 rifles, 11 magazines, 65 M4 bullets, and 56 AK-47 bullets, along with caps, medicines, first aid material, and socks, from the three terrorists.
According to partial data compiled by the South Asia Terrorism Portal (SATP), at least eight JeM-linked fatalities (one SF trooper and seven JeM cadres) have been recorded in J&K (data till June 8, 2025). Through 2024, 15 JeM-linked fatalities (two civilians, six SF personnel and seven JeM cadres) were recorded in the state. Since March 6, 2000, when SATP started compiling data, a total of 1,403 such JeM-linked fatalities (102 civilians, 236 SF personnel and 1,063 JeM cadres) have been recorded from across India, including 1,366 such fatalities (100 civilians, 220 SF personnel and 1,044 JeM cadres) in J&K alone.
Moreover, SFs have arrested at least four JeM terrorists/terror associates in the current year (data till June 8, 2025). On January 1, 2025, Police arrested four associates of JeM, identified as Mudasir Ahmad Naik, Umar Nazir Sheikh, Inayat Firdoos, and Salman Nazir Lone, along with incriminating materials, in the Awantipora area in Pulwama District. The arrested individuals were involved in providing logistical support and transporting arms and ammunition to active terrorists of JeM. Through 2024, 12 such elements had been arrested. Since March 6, 2000, when SATP started compiling data, a total of 460 such elements have been arrested from across India, including 390 in J&K alone.
Furthermore, a total of 14 JeM terrorists/terrorist associates have surrendered since March 6, 2000, all in J&K. The last surrender was recorded on May 29, 2019, when a JeM militant, Mohammad Maqbool Ganie, who was trapped by SFs at the Chopan Mohalla of Nagpathri Tral village in Pulwama District, surrendered before the SFs along with one Chinese pistol, one pistol magazine and six rounds of ammunition.
A scrutiny of the JeM-linked fatalities indicates that the JeM has killed 338 persons (including 102 civilians and 236 SF personnel) since March 6, 2000, across India, including 320 fatalities (100 civilians and 220 SF personnel) in J&K alone. These numbers are likely an underestimate, as the group identity of terrorists involved in a large number of killings in J&K remain unattributed, according to the SATP database.
JeM was launched on January 31, 2000. Maulana Masood Azhar, who was freed from an Indian prison as part of the terrorists-for-hostages swap on December 31, 1999, following the hijacking of Indian Airlines Flight IC 814, launched the group in Karachi, as a breakaway from his earlier outfit, the Harkat ul Ansar/ Harkat ul Mujahideen. Proselytizing, funding, recruiting, and training by JeM are all done openly in Pakistan, where Masood continues to enjoy the hospitality and support of the Pakistan Military Establishment.
On October 25, 2001, the Indian Government banned JeM in accordance with the Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA). Soon after, ominously, JeM was responsible for the December 13, 2001, terrorist attack on the Indian Parliament in New Delhi.
Over the years, Islamabad faced increasing pressure from global watchdogs, especially the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), to crack down on terror financing and dismantle the infrastructure of jihadi outfits. Groups like JeM and the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) have been designated as terrorist organisations by the United Nations and several major countries, including the United States. These designations were intended not only to restrict financial channels but also bring intense diplomatic heat on Pakistan. However, as part of a strategy to deflect this scrutiny, Pakistan began promoting proxy groups that lacked overt religious branding. Notably, the People's Anti-Fascist Front (PAFF) emerged in the wake of the abrogation of Article 370 in 2019, created as a front and direct extension of JeM.
The Union Ministry of Home Affairs (UMHA) declared PAFF and all its manifestations as terrorist organisation under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA), 1967, through a notification on January 6, 2023. The notification stated,
The 'People's Anti-Fascist Front (PAFF)' emerged in the year 2019 as a proxy outfit of Jaish-e-Mohammed, a proscribed terrorist organisation listed at serial number 6 of the First Schedule under the UAPA. It regularly issues threats to Indian security forces, political leaders, civilians working in Jammu-Kashmir from other states and is involved, along with other organisations, in conspiring pro-actively physically and in social media to undertake violent terrorist acts in Jammu-Kashmir and other major cities in India.
In spite of the significant decline in its capacities to strike, as is visible in the declining fatalities inflicted on SFs by the outfit over the last several years, JeM remains one of the most potent threats in J&K. Notably, it has rebranded itself while establishing a vast network, and continues to carry out covert operations. According to a May 4, 2025, report, JeM evolved its strategy to evade international sanctions and counterterrorism efforts after global bans and increased scrutiny. It now operates through proxy groups like the Kashmir Tigers, Kashmir Freedom Army (KFA) and PAFF. Significantly, since the emergence of PAFF, the proxy outfit has been attributed with at least 14 fatalities (10 SF personnel and four PAFF cadres). Further, the Kashmir Tigers have also claimed responsibility for attacks in the Doda and Kathua Districts in July 2024, signalling their active presence.
Moreover, the May 4, 2025, report discloses that JeM is trying to tighten its grip through social fronts and covert infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir (PoJK). Its proxy outfits also continue their mission to destabilise Kashmir while masking their affiliations. These offshoots operate under social covers like madrasas and hijama (cupping therapy) centres. Islamic preaching networks are used to recruit, train, and radicalise individuals while avoiding exposure.
Meanwhile, the May 4, 2025, report also revealed that Balakot in Pakistan is a key operational base for the JeM’s activities, more specifically the Jamia Ayesha Siddiqui Lillbanat Islamia madrasa, which is managed by Abdul Majid Sulimani, a senior Jaish ‘commander’, code named Majid Sulimani. The madrasa serves as a recruitment and logistics hub for the Kashmir Tigers and KFA, with plans to expand infrastructure, while its funding is managed by Sulimani’s UK-based brother Qazi Shabir, who channels donations from Saudi Arabia, UAE, and Pakistan. JeM and its proxies have strong connections with the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and its refugee management cell (RMC), which is run by Col. Raheel in Muzaffarabad and offers safe haven, meat, vegetables, as well as logistics supplies. A letter from Sulimani to RMC, dated back to 2024, in which he specifically asks for assistance with ‘business’ operations, reflects this.
Further, a May 5, 2025, report, CNN-News18, noted that Sulimani received arms and subversive training from various camps located in Abbottabad, Mansehra, and Bahawalpur. He also underwent training at religious centres associated with JeM. As a senior ‘commander’ within the JeM outfit, Sulimani has been closely working with new offshoots of the group, the Kashmir Tigers and the KFA.
It is useful to recall here that, following barbaric slaughter at the Baisaran Maidan near Pahalgam in the Kashmir Valley on April 22, 2025, India carried out a strike on terrorist launch pads in PoJK and terrorist centres in Pakistan under ‘Operation Sindoor’, during which Maulana Masood Azhar's brother, Abdul Rauf Azhar, the ‘deputy chief’ of the outfit, the mastermind behind the 1999 IC-814 hijacking, and a senior member of JeM, was killed. He was eliminated in Pakistan's Bahawalpur after India struck nine terrorist targets in Pakistan and PoJK on May 7, 2025. Further, JeM ‘chief’ Masood Azhar divulged that 10 of his family members and his four close associates were killed in the 'Operation Sindoor'. Masood's family members were at the Markaz Subhan Allah, located at NH-5 (Karachi-Torkham Highway) on the outskirts of Karachi Mor in Bahawalpur District of Pakistan's Punjab province.
Despite significant losses to the JeM, the group continues to pose a substantial threat to J&K and across the country. After 'Operation Sindoor', a May 28, 2025, report, revealed that JeM leaders have vowed vengeance against India, through articles published in the in-house digital magazine, Medina, Medina. Further, videos of the speeches made by JeM leaders have also been republished, together with speeches made during the burial of the kin of 'chief' Masood killed in the air strike on May 7, 2025. Abdul Rauf Asghar, brother of JeM 'chief' Masood Azhar and in-charge of the outfit's military operations, has warned:
We never target the innocent, and have never hit inhabited areas of cities. But [Prime Minister Narendra"> Modi, listen, if you do not stop the massacres of ordinary Muslims, the Fidayeen of the Jaish will raid your streets and lanes, and unleash rivers of blood. For every dead Muslim, we will leave behind the bodies of ten dead Hindus.
May 11, 2025, report disclosed that JeM's Kashmir Tigers and PAFF are currently operational across urban and rural zones of the Kashmir Valley, with increasing footprints in the Jammu region as well, particularly in Doda, Rajouri, Poonch, and Reasi. They remain highly active in recruiting and radicalising youth, primarily via Telegram channels and private chat forums, to radicalise youth and plot high-profile attacks.
Meanwhile, according to an April 23, 2025, report, at least 56 foreign terrorists are currently active in J&K, of which 18 are from the JeM, 35 from LeT, and three from Hizbul Mujahideen (HM).
JeM is one of the top three terrorist organisations in J&K and the entire nation. Since the rise of the proxy groups Kashmir Tigers, KFA, and PAFF, there has been a discernible shift. On the surface, these various organisations seem secular, political, and even ‘liberal’ in their language, rather than actively working for the jihadi ideology and terrorist movement of JeM. In actuality, however, they are only repackaging existing tactics, serving as fronts for their jihadi directors based in Pakistan, who are attempting to conceal their Islamist affiliations and evade international sanctions as they continue with their terrorist mobilization and activities.
